Burning Bridges in Hell
by Flock-Member7
Summary: After a late night fight with Fang, Max takes off and doesn't come back. Faced with the realization that Max was raped, and beaten, Fang and the others find themselves falling apart, little by little. Better summary inside. Lemons chapter 11.
1. Chapter 1

**For those of you who are just starting this story let me just say, this is NOT an untold story of the MR canon. Once upon a time that's what I had called it but I realized that it just didn't fit anymore. So I changed the name from The Untold Story to Burning Bridges in Hell.**

**Summary: On vacation to Minnesota the Flock break into a lake cabin to spend the week. After coming very close to doing something they knew they shouldn't do Fang and Max get into a fight and Max takes off. Only problem is... she never comes back. They finally find Max only to realize she was kidnapped, raped, and beaten, and near death. Little by little the flock starts to fall apart, getting into fights with each other and crying themselves to sleep at night. Fang does everything in his power to save Max, but when she wakes up and she doesn't want anything to do with him, he finds himself brokenhearted. Now Max is determined to bring the man who hurt her to justice and save other girls from what she had to go through, only to find out what she had thought to be a small operation of sex trading, goes deeper into hell then she could have ever imagined. Willing to sacrifice her body, soul, and life to end the nightmare of human trafficking, she winds up burning more bridges than she bargained for when Fang walks out taking the kids with him and falls into the clutches of evil. Now faced with the greatest decision of her life Max has to chose who to save, her family, or the hundreds of women and teenaged girls already forced into slavery. It's enough to drive a girl insane.  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. Duh.**

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Angel; I was seriously considering legally changing her name to something a little less cliché. I was thinking more along the lines of; oh I don't know Rebecca, or Tabitha, or Fiendishly Rambunctious Extraordinarily Devilish Imp, Fredi for short. I just want to make sure no one gets the wrong impression or anything once learning her name is the Greek root definition for a kind, lovable, selfless, and pure of heart manifestation of perfection. Which in her own way I suppose she is. But sometimes I have to wonder. What the hell is really going on in that head of golden curls? What with us being major celebrity icons now I don't think it would be too difficult to get a court mandated order that Angel's 'angelicasy' be brought down a notch. Would it?

Iggy; he's not one of my annoying little twerp brothers anymore. Ok, yeah he could still be annoying as hell, especially when paired with his PIC, (That's Partner in Crime for those of you who were wondering) the Gasman. But he wasn't so little anymore. On more than one occasion I've found myself completely and utterly at a loss with him. I just can't keep up with the guy like I used to. Sure I could outsmart him in a test of wits or kick his ass in a wrestling match, that's why _I'm _the leader. But that's not what I'm talking about. What am I supposed to do when he has one of his oh poor me I'm a blind mutant freak episodes? What am I supposed to say if he starts coming to me with questions about girls or –shivers- sex? He's at that age you know. And Angel's caught him thinking about stuff like that often.

Nudge; would it be illegal for me to smack some sense into this kid? I mean it's not necessarily considered child abuse coming from another child is it? Nudge is at a point in her short adolescent life of chaos where she's beginning to test. Test _everything_. As if she wasn't a handful already with her nonstop chatter now she needed to 'discover who she was'. Whatever the hell that means. I don't ever remember going through that stage. She's resisting my authority, taking charge, insisting on venturing out and doing things on her own. No, I was just born that way. Nudge on the other hand was always very content in following and trusting me. Now all of the sudden she wanted to hack off her wings like Pinocchio and be a real boy- or er- girl. Did Pinocchio have wings? Ugh never mind my head is starting to hurt. I'm just thankful she changed her mind. It didn't really feel right crusading without the constant noise coming from her mouth.

Gazzy; one thing's for sure, he's definitely Angel's brother. I don't think I've seen a more adorable little boy be more of a pain than the Gasman. Luckily, that's the _only _problem I've had with him thus far. His mischievous antics are tolerable, so long as no one gets hurt. And usually nobody does. Until he almost got himself killed by way of jellyfish. For god's sakes can our lives _get _anymore pathetic?

Fang; until just recently he was my right hand man, second in command, my rock. Now all of the sudden he's earned several new titles, my favorite being, oh my god Fang. Just thinking about him makes my heart beat faster. But more important than that, he's turned into more of a partner than a deputy when it comes to leading the flock. Some how despite my stubborn need to be in absolute control, I've developed a system. I won't make a move without Fang. Simple as that. I suppose I should have seen this coming. Six kids living alone in the world, three of them at or around the same age, the oldest. There were two boys, Fang and Iggy, and one girl, me. It was only a matter of time before _somebody _fell in love. Naturally Iggy wasn't interested. But Fang? He just couldn't help himself could he? Had to step up and take on that role didn't he? Anything to get under Maximum Ride's skin. And boy was he in _deep_. Ass hole. And yet, I just feel so incomplete without him.

So here I am, ragging on my flock like they're the reason for making my life so miserable. Let's get one thing straight. My life does suck. But not because of them. In fact, I probably wouldn't be alive today with out them. Sure, they can all be unbelievingly annoying. And I'm sure Fang could say the same about me. But when push comes to shove, I wouldn't have them any other way. We've been through a lot together. We've lived through the countless experimentations of the white coats, lived on our own, run for our lives, _fought _for our lives, gone to school, battled to the death, saved the world from natural and not so natural disasters, discovered and destroyed countless underground testing facilities, hated, loved, and nearly died, we've experienced things you could never even dream about.

And the worse is yet to come.

* * *

We were flying to god knows where, as per usual. Only this time, it was _my _decision. Not some nosy voice's, not some big headed government official or military general's, not my mom's, not Jeb's, mine. Me and my family were flying, the cold wind rippling through our soft feathers and nipping at our noses, to some unknown destination that _I _would choose, _when_ I felt like it. So take that, Mr. Everything's-a-test-god-forsaken-power-monger who thinks he can control every aspect of _my _life. I'm going on vacation and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

_You're making a big mistake Max. Don't do this; don't run from the only thing protecting you and the Flock._

I heaved a sigh. _Shove it._ I snapped to the voice inside my head. Don't judge me; it comes with the whole being a mutant freak package. Wings, creepy powers, voice in your head, the unnerving stares, you get used to it after a while. Anyway there was no way I was letting the Voice ruin this for me.

We were all sick and tired of the lime light. None of us were very good with crowds or anyone outside our flock for that matter. And dealing with people had become too much for us lately. What happened to the good old days? Running for our lives, scavenging for food, fighting to the death, it's a sad day when you begin to miss that. But it's amazing what an adrenaline rush can do for you. After a mere hour of flying we were all already at peace in the sky. I began to feel my nerves unwind and my thoughts drifted lazily between Fang, the Flock, the clouds, and Fang.

I think its official now. I mean, we practically made out in front of every one, the flock included, back on the sub. But, I mean that doesn't really count does it? It could have been my last moments on Earth. For all we knew I was about to be crushed in a watery grave. We weren't exactly thinking clearly. But then we did it again, while flying, which was difficult mind you but oh it was heaven. How can one _not _assume that Fang and I are- well, _Fang and I._ And I was ok with that now. I think. Oh god I need this vacation so bad.

I was awakened from my thoughts by none other than Fang himself as he intruded upon my perpetual bubble that was high above the others by at least a couple hundred feet or so. I tilted my wings to make room for him as he soared up under and then beside me. As if there wasn't enough room in the sky to go around me. I had his flight pattern memorized down to the tiniest feather movement, so it wasn't difficult to adjust and synchronize the unending up and down movement of our wings. I paid him no head because I knew that would bug him. Just as he knew forcing me out of his way to make room for him would bother me. I couldn't help but catch the glint in his emotionless eyes. When it comes to Fang's eyes any light no matter how small that twinkled in the depths of those deep onyx pools was like lighting up a whole room. And if you knew him well enough, which I'm beginning to doubt that I do anymore, the tiniest twitch in his hard set jaw was enough to tell you _exactly _what he was thinking. To anyone else he'd be a mystery. But to me, he's easier to read than a preschool picture book… most of the time.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked keeping his eyes trained dead ahead. Oh as if he didn't already know. You see that's the way it is with us. If I didn't know better I'd think we shared the same brain. I guess we were just _close _like that. Either that or completely insane, which is a possibility. So it didn't surprise me at all that when I was silent, his eyes merely flickered to me for a brief moment, and my lack of a response told him everything he needed to know.

"Relax." He said blatantly knowing full well it wouldn't help.

"Easier said than done." I replied with a sigh.

Fang shrugged in a way only his graceful style would allow him to do while flying, and still look natural. "Not really." He answered back. I decided not to respond to that, which was just fine for Fang.

"Geese!" Came Angel's warning cry from below. Fang and I moved perfectly together. As the flock of geese heading our way flew into view from the clouds, Fang swooped up over me and stacked like that we avoided the collision. As soon as the threat had passed Fang lowered himself back down beside me and we flew smoothly again.

I closed my eyes trying to imagine what it would be like to be one hundred percent bird. Those geese had it so easy. Fly south in the winter, north in the summer, eat fish and swim all day, even goose hunting season would be a walk in the park. I sighed inwardly. Oh what I'd give to be away from it all. Not have to worry about any one else except myself. Just for a little while. That's all I'm asking.

_Be careful what you wish for._ The voice chimed in on my lazy daydream. Of course it had to barge in on my one moment of peace. What else is it good for? Cause I can't really count on it for much else.

_Oh mighty voice from above. _I half sung half groaned sarcastically in my mind. I was getting extremely talented at vocalizing my expressions in my head. So far I've come up with ninety two different ways to groan in annoyance whilst making no noise what so ever. It should be a international sport! _Why don't you take your fortune cookie horoscopes and tell them to some one who cares._

_It's not a horoscope Max, It's a warning. Your asking for trou-_

_Again, _not _caring. _I thought irritated.

_You'll regret th-_

_UGH! Would you just give it up already!? I'm taking this vacation whether you like it or not and I'm going to enjoy my week in paradise _without _you _or _Jeb _or _any one else outside my rare and unnatural species. So bug off!_

Silence……… I sighed with relief. _Thank you_.

"Everything will be fine." I snapped my eyes open at the sound of Fangs smooth deep voice. I looked over at him questioningly trying to hide what was evident in my face. I was stressed out. And more so than usual. I could handle kicking ass and running for our lives. Yeah, I could even deal with the gnawing hunger, and the torturous little relief a McDonald's back ally dumpster could provide to my growling stomach. What I couldn't stand was being body guarded twenty four seven and treated like a fragile little bunny rabbit for cry'n out loud! Living _there _was no better than living in a lab or hospital in my opinion. And trust me, neither were very pleasant. Sure the food was better the beds were softer but I could never shake that eerie feeling that I was _constantly _being watched. So call me paranoid, big deal. Lets see you survive a squid attack or a paparazzi barrage. They aren't much different I can promise you that. They were both suffocating.

"Wherever we're going we'll be safe." Fang assured me. Not exactly your most convincing argument Fangy dearest. How could he be so sure? I was never sure of anything! But he always seemed to be so solid.

I opened my mouth to reply but he went on. "And we'll be alone. To work things out."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped offended by his choice of words. Fang shot me a confused glance and I realized I was overreacting. He wasn't talking about _us_ he was talking about us, the Flock. I saw Fang's jaw tighten and I immediately went to apologize. But Fang was done talking. He was never a very big talker and that hadn't changed in the least. He tilted his head and stopped flapping letting air fill his wings and carry him downward, away from me. I sighed watching him hover above Iggy before rolling sideways and slicing down into the formation beside Nudge. I shook my head and focused on flying again. He'd get over it. He always did.

A few hours of flying is exhilarating. Anything more than that is work. Kinda like riding a horse, it's fun for a while but after two hours or so your butt gets pretty darn sore. We've been flying most of our lives and the younger kids could last about five hours at a time. Fang Iggy and I could probably go for about eight. So after ten hours of nonstop flight, every one was a little cranky with me.

"_Max._" Nudge whined. "We need to stop and rest. I don't know about you but I am Egg-Sauce-Ted. Iggy's practically falling out of the sky and I don't think Fang can carry Angel _and_ Gazzy. Where are we going anyway? I mean I could understand flying like this if we were running for our lives or something but this is ridiculous. What's going on?" It was amazing even though she was out of her mind _exhausted_ she could still find the energy to go on like that. But I had to be honest with myself. Even I was ready for a break. But not yet.

"Just a little longer Nudge. We're almost there." I said my patients wearing thin.

"Where's there?" she asked again. "I don't think I can take this much longer."

"Yeah Max," Gazzy complained. "I'm hungry."

I sighed. "We packed _plenty_ of food. We'll eat when we land."

"I don't think I have the energy to eat." Iggy mumbled. I clenched my jaw forcing myself not to scream. I waited silently for Fang to say something as well. More like dared him to. No matter what he said I probably would have exploded. But Fang stayed out of it, as usual. Smart boy. I shot him a glance and we made eye contact. Below us was a big beautiful lake. It was probably the eighteenth lake we had flown over since we crossed the Minnesota border. There were little trailer park like suburbs all around the shore of the water. Lake cabins. Apparently if you lived in this state you had to have a lake cabin. But it was the middle of October. Which meant unless the stupid idiots lived in them all winter as well, most of them would be empty. Fang nodded to me.

"Alight gang," I called. Fang gently shook Angel awake and she awkwardly found her wings and flew again on her own. "We'll put up shop in one of those cabins. There shouldn't be anyone home."

Nudge's eyes widened. "Wouldn't that be considered breaking and entering?" she asked shocked.

"And your problem is?" I asked.

"That's like… against the law!" She argued.

I growled under my breath. They had gotten _way_ to comfortable living under a roof. They forget that we couldn't trust anyone. We would always be on our own. And if that meant going back to living our lives as fugitives. I would do it, because _that_ was the only time I could feel one hundred percent confident that I could keep them safe.

"Suck it up Nudge. We're on vacation. Live a little." I answered back. And with that I veered sharply downward making my way for the soft sand of the lake shore. I tucked in my wings at the last moment and came to a running halt on the ground. I turned as my flock followed suit right behind me. I loved being leader.

"Ok so you have your choice of lodgings." I said trying to be cheerful. From the looks on everyone's faces, my effort was unappreciated. "We can break into one of these many cabins near the shore or try and find one a little more secluded."

"Can we just get to the nearest one and just crash?" Gazzy asked. "I'm too tired to walk any more than I have to." He groaned leaning on Iggy who was about to fall over himself. Iggy didn't even have the energy to push him off. I couldn't help but smile at them.

I nodded. "alright, lakeside cabin it is." I said. Every one let out a sigh of relief in unison. I picked up Angel and held her close leading them to the nearest little trailer.

To my surprise the door was unlocked. After checking the cupboards and fridge I knew why. The place had been completely emptied out for the off season. Save for the furniture there was absolutely nothing there. I guess they figured no one would be desperate enough to steal the piece of crap couch that barely fit into the cramped space anyway. So, they shouldn't mind if a couple of bird kids took up residence for a few nights. Right? And since there was nothing here it was safe to assume no one was coming back for a while. There was a small town close by, we could live here in this abandoned cabin for a week, making irregular trips to town every once and a while for food. No one would ever suspect a thing. And I could get the piece and quiet I so desperately needed. And who knows, maybe, if things went well, I might even consider going back to 'saving the world'.

Iggy collapsed on the piece of crap couch in the main 'living room' I guess you could call it. Though the only thing separating it from the other piece of crap couch in the 'guest bedroom' was a flimsy plastic screen that folded up into the wall. Nudge took that couch. Gazzy curled up in the little recliner near the large glass sliding door and little Angel was just small enough to fit in one of the mini booths at the tiny table. Every one was asleep within seconds. I guess they weren't kidding when they said they were exhausted.

I took this as an opportunity to explore our little abode and check out our resources. I stood in the kitchenette and tried the water faucet, but nothing happened. As I expected, no water. So it looked like the bathroom would be useless. Not that any of us could fit in it anyway. I sighed shaking my head and realized I could see my breath. So naturally my next mission was to fiddle with the thermostat. After flicking a few switches and raising the meter up to seventy two the sound of the heating system kicked in and warm air blasted through the vents on the ground. Excellent. At least we had electricity.

Things were looking up! That was until I realized the only other place to sleep was the queen sized bed in the room that was only about the size of the bed itself. _Crap._ I thought realizing what that meant. Apparently Fang realized it too.

"Do you want the inside or the outside?" he asked appearing silently beside me. Startled I jumped. I had forgotten all about Fang until a couple moments ago. I hadn't noticed him standing so perfectly still watching me explore the cabin. Mostly because he was practically invisible, but also because I hadn't really been paying attention. _Your losing your touch. _The_ Maximum Ride thrown off guard because she wasn't paying attention. _That was a scary thought. Since when have I _ever _not paid attention? Never.

"W-what?" I stuttered in a failed attempt to contain my surprise. Fang gave me his signature quirk in the corner of his mouth. Probably the closest you're ever gunna get to a smile from him.

"It's just a bed," He said teasing me. "It's not going to bite."

"Ha, ha, very funny." I hissed under by breath. Suddenly I went rigid when I felt Fang's strong hands on my shoulders. He squeezed tenderly and kneaded his fingers gently into the tense muscles around my neck and just above where my wings connected with my back. I shivered letting my shoulders fall as every nerve in my body short circuited and I was forced to relax against my will. _Oh my god. _I thought closing my eyes and letting my head lean back on some reflex I didn't know I had. _Where did he learn to do _that_!? _It felt so amazing. He pressed every invisible button I had in that moment and my body just shut down. And unfortunately so did the half of my brain that influenced my better judgment.

Then I felt his warm breath on my neck and every little hair on my body stood on end. I was completely at his mercy. I couldn't stop him from pressing his firm lips tenderly against the skin of my neck. Then it was like electricity sparked from that spot and I gasped at how powerful that little kiss was on me.

"F-Fang" I whispered breathlessly. "W-what… What are you doing?"

Fang receded away from my neck and slowly his massaging hands stopped and lifted away from me. I turned around to face him and stared into his eyes. This is where I was expecting him to kiss me and fly me to heaven on invisible wings. But he didn't. He leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the forehead like he did that time I thought I was turning into an eraser. God that feels like a life time ago. And he gave me an encouraging smirk.

"You can take the bed. I'll take first watch." He whispered. "Get some sleep. Everything will be ok." And for some reason that was everything and all I needed to hear. I nodded feeling the weight of exhaustion settle around me like a fog. Fang disappeared outside and I melted into the comfort of a warm bed. It was the first time in a very long time I felt safe under a roof in a bed as soft as this. And I couldn't tell if it was because of what Fang said or what. But I didn't have time to think about it because soon sleep had taken over my body and I drifted away.

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**Don't forget to R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Obviously. I do own Iggy though. awe I'm just kidding. but wouldn't that be nice? lol**

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Eureka! Turns out the piece of crap couches weren't piece of crap couches after all! They were piece of crap couches that folded out into flimsy piece of crap beds! This discovery was made compliments of Gazzy and Angel, who thought that bringing toads in from the lake to keep as pets was a good idea.

"But they were cold, and hungry! We couldn't just leave them to suffer like that!" Angel objected after I scolded her for letting the nine toads loose in the cabin. She was checking the bathroom, in the tub, under the sink. God I prayed none of them slipped down the drains. Not that I cared. It wasn't like this was our cabin, but still. Have some decency for the people who _do _own it will ya?

"Yeah, what Angel said." Gazzy said as he scoured the cupboards.

I rolled my eyes at Gazzy. "Honey, we barely have enough food to feed ourselves. What on earth gave you the impression we could feed _nine _frogs?" I forced myself to keep my temper. Truthfully I could care less if they turned into frog popsicles outside. But if I said that to Angel, she would most likely get very upset. I had to be very gentle in situations like this. And usually that took every ounce of energy I had.

"Toads" I heard Iggy correct from behind the screen. "They're toads. Frogs are a lot smaller." He pulled the screen open "None in there." He called. I shot him a glare as I reached under the recliner searching with my hand for anything slimy, squishy, and alive.

"I'm glaring at you Iggy." I said. He smiled at me in return.

"Nothing in the bedroom." Fang said climbing from the bed out to join us. I sighed. Where the hell could nine _toads _possible hide in this tiny little space?

"You know Nudge we would probably find these things a lot faster if you helped us search for them" I called to her through the sliding screen door. She was outside on the deck. She refused to come inside until the toads were found and removed from the cabin.

"No way! Ew! They're all gross and slimy and yuk! I wouldn't go near one if you paid me in salad dressing!" she said stomping her foot and crossing her arms.

"You know there a one hundred times more of them _outside_." I informed her.

"Yeah but I don't have to live with them outside. I live inside. Frogs don't belong inside."

"Toads." Iggy corrected again. I shot him another glare that he of course didn't catch due to him being blind and all.

"We've only been living here for two and a half days Nudge, it's not going to be the end of the world if a toad were to hide in the bathroom or something."

"There's nothing in the bathroom." Angel called.

"And nothing in the cupboards or the fridge either." Gazzy added.

I groaned in frustration. "Total would come in handy right about now." I muttered a little too loudly, because the next thing I heard was a quiet sob from Angel. I stood up and turned to her realizing my mistake. Total was a touchy subject right now. He had come down with something and was on strict bed rest back at home in Arizona. Angel was worried sick about him and had originally refused to come with us on this vacation. Until Total told her he would be much happier sitting this little adventure out. It was a complete lie of course but it had convinced Angel that it would be ok to come with us.

"I'm sure Total's just fine." I reassured her. Angel sniffed and wiped her eyes nodding. What a mess this whole thing was turning out to be. I needed a vacation from my vacation.

I was on my last thread of patients when I finally had the intuition to remove the cushions from the couch. And there they were. All nine toads having a toad party on a folded up cot that was hidden beneath the cushions. I was, get this, actually startled because I wasn't really expecting to find them, and I let out a pathetic little squeak as I dropped the couch cushion.

"Hey!" Iggy exclaimed. "Sounds like Max found them." Every one came rushing over to me. "What's the matter Max? Afraid of a couple frogs?" Iggy taunted purposefully using the word frog. I let out a loud angry growl as I picked up two of the toads with my bare hands and shoved them into Iggy's.

"Just get them out of here before you get hit, you little jerk." I ordered pushing him for the door. He cackled all the way outside. Angel, Fang, and Gazzy each took two more and released them outside, and Nudge snuck past me back inside as I took the last one.

Once we were all back inside with the toads in their rightful place in the wild, I turned to Gazzy and Angel. "alright," I started calmly. "Have we learned our lesson? No more slimy little critters inside the cabin. Got it?" I pressed. Angel and Gazzy nodded with conviction. "Good." I said pleased.

"Hey, what's this?" Nudge asked examining the folded cot in the couch. I came over and tugged on the handle bar. Without much effort the bed unfolded, mattress, sheets, and all. It was a thin mattress and the sheets didn't appear to be very clean. But it was a bed none the less, and it looked like it could hold two people.

"Awesome!" Gazzy exclaimed.

"Hey Igs, check the other couch." I ordered folding the bed back up. And sure enough, there was another two person cot hidden inside.

"Double awesome!" Gazzy exclaimed again pumping his fist. "Does this mean I don't have to sleep on the recliner anymore?"

"Yes Gaz, you and Iggy can share a bed." I said

"And I can share with Nudge, right?" Angel asked.

"Of course sweetie." I replied. Angel smiled broadly. It wasn't very comfortable for her cramped up on the little booth. So that solved our sleeping arrangement problem. Well, almost. Because that still left me and Fang in the same bed, which had turned out to be very awkward. And things only got worse that night.

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After I made sure all of the kids were asleep and Iggy was on watch I crawled into the bed feeling like I had fought a major battle today. I was exhausted. Fang shifted in the bed so he was lying facing me, propping his head up on his hand. I opened my eyes wearily when I felt him staring at me.

"What?" I asked irritated, not really in the mood to deal with him tonight.

He shook his head. "Nothing." He replied.

I rolled my eyes then turned so my back was to him. "Go to sleep, Fang." I whispered closing my eyes again. There was movement in the bed as I suspected Fang was getting comfortable for sleep, when suddenly I realized he was wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into him. I froze, every muscle in my body stiffening. But I didn't move.

"You need to relax." He whispered in my ear. "It's not good for you to be so uptight."

"Since when have you cared?" I snapped back. But Fang didn't reply. He simply held me there, ever so softly. And just as I was starting to let myself be ok with that, I felt his lips on the back of my neck. And just like that, every synapse in my brain fired and I lost all control. I gasped, half shocked, half pleasured by Fang's romantic gesture. And I felt him smile against my skin.

Then he kissed me more, moving his mouth from the back of my neck to my shoulder and paused there to suckle gently. By now my eyes were wide and my heart was racing a million miles an hour. When I felt him suck on the flesh just before the strap of my spaghetti string tank top, I involuntarily closed my eyes and let out a very small and quiet moan. Quickly my hand flew to my mouth and my eyes snapped open again. _Where did _that _come from?_ I thought, horrified by how weak it made me sound. Fang pulled away from me and chuckled, knowing exactly what was going through my head right now. I turned over so I was facing him and looked into his eyes. He was actually _amused_ by my reaction! The little pervert was enjoying this! He enjoyed watching me squirm and making me so feel so helpless! What's wrong with you Fang? I hadn't realized that I was scowling at him until I saw the smirk that appeared on his face. What did he find so funny about this situation!? Then he said something that made my heart do a double back flip.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered. My eyes widened and I stared at him completely shocked. _What did he just say?_ The next thing I knew he had pulled me close, pressing our bodies together hard and our lips even harder. Having my emotional wall already mutilated by him once that night, it didn't take long for my arms to wrap around him and for my hands to find their way into his hair. This only encouraged more passionate kisses from both of us. My mind was foggy and I couldn't put any two strands of thought together properly. All I knew was I could lie there with Fang and do this forever. I was on cloud nine. We hadn't kissed in a quite a long time and I had somehow forgotten how amazing it was.

Fang's hands moved down my sides to my hips. On some unspoken level of understanding we both moved together so that I was on top of him. Our kissing didn't slow down at all like it had back in the desert. Instead of doing it for comfort, suddenly we were becoming more and more hungry, almost lustful. Our mouths moved together and I angled my head to the side so I could kiss him better. Then I felt his tongue tease my lips and with out knowing what I was doing I opened my mouth to him.

_Just roll with the flow Max. _No it was not the voice speaking, thank god. I was literally, mentally coaching myself. _I _had no idea what I was doing, and I was pretty certain Fang didn't have a clue what _he _was doing either. It was all I could do to keep myself from totally freaking out and running away. As soon as our tongues met something inside me exploded and sent tiny sparks and tingling sensations all the way down my spine and beyond. I wrestled with his tongue fighting for dominance. But soon just kissing him wasn't enough. Something inside me needed, longed for more.

I slid down Fang's body to kiss his neck, when I felt something hard press against my lower half. Curious, I pressed back. I shot my eyes and head up startled by the sound that Fang made next. He actually groaned. And it wasn't a groan like I've heard him give before, when he was in pain and barely able to speak, or groggily being forced to wake up. Those groans he could utter without so much as a hint of emotion. But this noise. This was something totally different. At first it scared me. Did I hurt him? Was it too much? But then he looked into my eyes and I saw something I had never seen before on any man. Lust, and pleasure. We were both painfully out of breath and it took a while for our hearts to slow down enough to speak. But I didn't want to speak I wanted more of what ever natural drug was shooting through my veins and making me feel so alive. Before Fang could open his mouth to speak I lowered myself back down and kissed him again, silencing anything he was about to say. He closed his eyes and I closed mine as we fell back into each other.

This time I pressed against him purposefully and didn't stop when he moaned into our kiss. Now I knew why Fang was having so much fun making _me _squirm. I couldn't help that my eyes lit up at the sight of him completely at my mercy. Not only was it hilarious, but it was exhilarating to know that I had the power to do this kind of thing to a man. And a man who _never_ expressed more than a smirk when he was happy or, a flicker in his eyes and a knot in his jaw when he was angry or hurt. It turned me on. So I pressed harder, fitting one leg between his and rubbing against him.

"M-Max-" Fang groaned and I was surprised at the amount of emotion came from that one word. More emotion than I've heard from anything he's ever said to me. Passion, longing, love, pleasure, ecstasy, all in one word, and it was _my_ name. Which made my heart soar. And I wanted to hear it again. So I pressed my leg against him again, harder this time. Then Fang did something completely unexpected. With one simple movement he flipped us over and pinned me by my wrists to the bed. When I turned my startled face up to him I saw that his expression had changed. He was angry.

"Stop it!" he growled. I stared at him my mouth gaping, shocked and confused. Both of our chests were heaving as we panted hard. Fang closed his eyes and gulped to catch his breath before looking back at me with the same determined anger as before. No, it wasn't anger, it was fear!

"Stop it Max" He repeated. "Stop it! I don't want to do something that I'll end up regretting." Was he joking!? Had he lost his flippin mind!? Did he just say he would regret me? Isn't this what he wanted? Isn't this what he was aiming for when he kissed me, held me, when he touched me? When his lust filled eyes looked into mine and pleaded for more? What was his problem!? Make up your freaking mind, Fang!

Now I was seriously pissed off. I shook my head and glared at him. "So then what were you trying to accomplish by starting this whole thing?" I spat venom.

Fang sighed and shook his head letting it hang helplessly. "I- I don't know" That was it. That was the last straw. I couldn't take this any more. First he pushes me into feeling a certain way about him now he was pushing me away? What was it he really wanted from me!? I wasn't about ready to ask and find out either.

"Get off of me." I hissed pushing him forcefully off and throwing him from the bed. He made a lot of noise clambering to the tiny isle of floor like that, which I was sure woke all the kids and alerted Iggy. But I didn't care. All I could see was red. I tore the door open, not even stopping to acknowledge Gazzy, Nudge, or Angel who were all sitting up in bed looking about ready to fight off an army of baddies. Had it been any other situation I would have been proud that they hadn't lost their survival instinct. But I was mad as hell and all I could think about was getting out of there and flying. Flying as fast as I could.

"Max wait!" I heard Fang call as I pushed through the heavy door closest to the bedroom, took a running leap off the deck and snapped out my wings.

"Max?" Iggy called hearing me take off. "Fang? What's going on?" He asked as Fang came bolting out after me. I heard the sound of Fang opening his wings to take flight and before I could think twice about letting him catch up to me, I kicked it into hyper gear and zoomed away at about two hundred miles per hour. There would be no way Fang could catch me now.

* * *

I wasn't flying for very long. Being able to go so fast I didn't want to get too far away and not have the energy to make it back. I was already spent, and I realized that the little boost of energy the adrenaline rush from being with Fang gave me was quickly used up. _Stupid Fang. _I hissed in my mind. _Stupid, stupid jerk. _Unable to think of much else. That's when I had to force myself to land in a nearby city. Welcome to Minneapolis, the sign read. Man, I had flown farther then I thought.

I didn't want to risk being seen, so I touched down in what looked like a more abandoned part of town. It was a big city so no place looked perfectly safe, but an ally would have to do. It wasn't that I was afraid of being caught, just about every one in the entire world knew who and what I was. So I didn't have to worry about being 'discovered'. But that's also the reason I didn't want to be seen. The last thing I needed was an ambush from crazed blog fans, or overzealous environmental activists. I just needed some piece and quiet.

So I walked, hands in my jeans pockets, oblivious to the searing cold against my exposed skin in this skimpy tank top. Because I wasn't thinking about the cold, or what I was wearing, no _I _was spazing out over Fang. Guh! I was so angry at him! Who did he think he was? That stupid idiotic ass hole! Excuse my French. But I was seriously ticked off.

I was like this, wandering aimlessly, uncharacteristically unaware of my surroundings, ignoring my warning system blaring code red, for about twenty minutes, maybe ten, it was hard to tell. But after a while it was hard not to slow down and think about what had just happened between me and Fang. What had _I _wanted? Did I really want to have sex with Fang? No, no Fang had been right. We weren't ready for something like that. And he had had the will power I lacked to stop us from really doing something we would regret. God, how could I be such an idiot?!

I whipped around running back the way I had come. If I went back now, apologized to Fang, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't hate me. I turned the corner down a dark ally and was about to take off when I ran smack into a wall. I was knocked backwards and I fell to the ground hard. My hands flew out behind me to catch my fall and I landed on my right hand wrong. I heard a sickening cracking sound and knew my wrist was broken. _Shit._ I gasped as the pain shot up through my arm. I had forgotten how badly broken bones could hurt.

"Awe what's the matter? Did you hurt yourself? I'm sorry," a menacing voice cooed. What? Had the wall just talked to me? I looked up to find that the wall I had run into was not a wall at all. A big man, six foot two and a half I was guessing, a neck as thick as an ox, and as muscular too, stood above me. Ha, as if his size could scare me. I had fought off monsters twice as strong as him, and with worse injuries too. So I got to my feet and glared at him bravely.

"No, I'm fine." I growled back at him. "But thanks for your charming concern. Now get out of my way." I ordered. Had I known then what was going to happen, had I been on full alert like I should have been, I would have snapped out my wings and gotten out of there as fast as I could. But I didn't. I was alone, no Flock to back me up, exhausted beyond reason, and feeling a little too confident.

"There, there now, let me have a look at your wrist." I didn't miss the malice in his eyes or his threatening posture. I wasn't a _complete_ idiot. So there was no way I was going to trust him. I shifted my feet into a fighters stance and clenched both my fists despite the almost unbearable pain in my wrist.

"Wrong answer." The man growled, and I knew then the mistake I had made. But I didn't have time to correct it.

_Max behind you! _Too little too late voice. Just as I was about to whip this guy's ass the sting of a needle buried itself deep in my neck. It felt then as if ice was searing through my veins and it sent shivers down my spine. I gasped wide eyed as my body fell limp and I landed in the arms of another man behind me. I tried my hardest to struggle, willed my wings to move, strained my muscles against the powerful drug that was shutting down all of my systems. But I was fading fast. I stared up horrified at the faces of my captors. My vision blurred and their distorted images drifted further and further from my view. I was slowly losing consciousness. _No no no! This can't be happening! Do something Max! Save yourself! _But there was nothing I could do. The last thing I heard before completely blacking out were their disgusting voices.

"Sleep tight, girly, your in for a life of hell." One of them, I wasn't sure who, cackled. Then they began to talk to each other, one was ordering the other around. Their voices were loud, blaring in my ears, but I couldn't make any of it out. I was scared, helpless, I was weak! And all I could think about as I slipped into total darkness was my family. The Flock, who would protect them? I had to get out of this somehow. I had to live. I had to get back to them. Because I still had to apologize. I had to see Fang. Fang, Fang, and the last thing I remember was wishing Fang was there now as I fell unconscious. _I'm sorry Fang.

* * *

_

**So? What'd you think? Things can only get more interesting from here on right? lol. Don't forget to R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I did however kidnap Iggy! I have him tied up in my room. Don't tell max though!**

* * *

The first thing I felt, god, it was so cold. So, so cold. _Why am I so cold?_ I thought groggily. I shivered. Then an agonizing pain in my right wrist. I bit my lip hard to keep from crying out. I was awake now, fully awake, but I didn't dare open my eyes. _My hands, where are my hands?_ I was forcing myself to gather my thoughts, absorb as much as I could before I opened my eyes. From the source of the pain I knew my hands were above my head. _My wings! _I did a quick system check. I sighed inwardly. All six limbs were intact. Thank god.

_Okay Max, get it together. Figure out where you are. _I told myself. This is what I knew so far:

I was in Minneapolis somewhere, hopefully.

I had been attacked and then drugged.

No body knew where I was…

_Shit_. This was bad. This was very bad. I could feel panic start to creep into my mind, but I quickly banished those thoughts. _Focus Max, focus. _I silently took a deep breath._ Okay, you got this._ I told myself. I did another once over and found that I couldn't move my hands. Cold steel bit into the skin of my wrists and pain shot through my arm.

My wrist was definitely broken.

Both of my hands were handcuffed to something.

_Now were getting somewhere._ So now I knew whoever kidnapped me, didn't know a thing about me. Otherwise I would have been put in an iron barred cage or strapped to a metal table by something a little more durable than handcuffs. Come to think of it whatever I was laying on was definitely more comfortable than a metal examining table. Not by much mind you, but it was soft and not quite as cold.

Then I felt it. A cold breeze softly caressed my bare skin. My eyes snapped open. I didn't even bother to take in my surroundings. The first thing I saw as I looked down at myself was skin, nothing but skin. I gasped. I was completely naked!

"Oh god," I breathed.

"Damn it, she's awake!" I heard a voice growl. There was movement, frantic shuffling, my eyes darted around the room hectically, searching for something, anything. I saw a shadow, then some movement in the corner of my eye. _What the hell is going on!? _I thought, my heart racing, I was starting to panic again.

"The drug wore off too quickly." _Who said that? _I whipped my head around searching for the source of that voice.

"Then give her more! He's not ready for her yet!" A female voice this time, but it was scratchy and hoarse. I heard the sound of heavy, booted footsteps, coming toward me. I turned my head just in time to see a gloved hand cover my mouth and another needle pushed into my arm. I watched horrified as the contents emptied into my body. While I was still able to move I thrashed despite the pain in my wrist. But the hand around my mouth prevented me from screaming or from saying anything. Any noise I made was muffled. Then the drug took effect and my body fell limp. I couldn't move. Again! The drug worked quickly this time and I didn't have much time to think. But it didn't take much thought to want Fang in that instant.

"Fang! Help me!" I cried out incoherently. _Fang!

* * *

_

I snapped my eyes open and bolted into a sitting position, gasping for breath. My heart was racing furiously. What had I just seen? I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, trying to bring the already blurry images back to me. But they slipped away, just out of my grasp. I let out a frustrated sigh. It was probably nothing… Only… I could have sworn I heard Max calling for me.

It was then that I realized how stupid that sounded. Of course she wasn't calling out for me. That would make her sound weak. She hated that. It was just some stupid dream, Max is probably safe and sound inside. I must have drifted off and missed her coming back from her temper tantrum. I ran my hand through my hair and puffed out a big puff of air. Last night had been a nightmare. I wasn't _trying_ to get into that situation. It just, happened. And before I knew it things were getting out of control. I had to stop it. I only hoped Max didn't hate me for it.

I gazed out across the lake. The opposite shore was distant and invisible even to my sharp eyes. I could have sworn it was the ocean I was staring at as the sun rose and painted the sky a crimson red. It was something else, that was for sure. Usually I like to sit and take things like this in. Some time to think, to just be me. But not today. Today I had to some how find away to make it through the day with out pissing Max off. Not that I had ever succeeded in this feat. Sometimes I think she's angry with me more than she is happy. I smirked imagining her beautiful face, soft even when she was scowling. Yeah, I was lucky to have some one like her in my life. I know that sounds totally mushy and not like me. But I guess you'll just have to get used to it.

I snapped out my ebony shaded wings and flapped a few times before floating down to the deck from atop the roof. Within a couple of steps I pulled the door open and stepped inside, shutting it behind me. The first thing I noticed was the smell of bacon and boiled cabbage. Iggy was cooking breakfast, remembering that Nudge didn't eat meat, and patiently making her something special from what everyone else was going to have. I marveled at this kid's patients. He did most of the cooking and didn't mind doing a little extra, just for Nudge. It took a strong man to put up with that.

"Morning Fang." Nudge called from her seat at the table across from Angel. I nodded to her and managed a smile for Angel. Then I looked around the cabin. Iggy was at the tiny stove making breakfast. Gazzy was, well, I didn't know where Gazzy was, but my guess was down by the lake relieving himself. Max was nowhere to be found.

"Uh- Where's Max?" I asked simply.

Nudge shrugged. "dunno." She said as she shoveled some more Malt-O-Meal into her mouth. The only time she didn't chat up a storm was when she was eating. I was glad for that now as I took a piece of bacon from a plate Iggy was preparing.

"Hey!" Iggy snapped. Even though he didn't actually see me take it, he had a weird way of knowing anyway. "The food's not done yet, hold your horses will ya?"

I rolled my eyes as I took a bite of the bacon and plopped down on the couch. "I'm rolling my eyes Igs." I said my mouth full. Iggy just shook his head. See? What did I tell ya? The guy puts up with almost as much as Max does.

So Nudge didn't know where Max was. Big deal. Nobody else seemed to be too concerned. So I figured she _had _come back last night and left again before I woke up. Probably to run some errands. Pick up some food for lunch. No biggy. What was concerning me in that moment was how I had slept through that. Any little noise should have woken me right up. How could I have missed her returning and leaving again? I stopped mid chew when I realized Angel had turned around completely in her seat and was staring directly at me.

"What?" I asked my mouth still full.

_Fang. _I heard her little voice inside my head. _Max hasn't come back since your guys' fight last night. _

I gulped the food down hard, almost choking. _What!?

* * *

_

I still wasn't too concerned about Max. She was more upset last night than I've seen her in a long while. And I still cringe when I remember it was because of me. But she probably over shot her hyper drive and flew a little too far. She was probably just taking her time coming back. Heck, for all we knew she could have stopped for the night. She would be on her way back soon, if she wasn't already. There was no doubt in my mind that Max was perfectly fine.

To be perfectly honest I was glad she wasn't back yet. I needed some time to think things through too you know. And I had to somehow do it while cleverly concealing my thoughts from Angel. That would have been a whole heck of a lot harder to do if Max was around. It was easier not to think about the near sex last night when I didn't have to see Max, Max and the way she moved, the way she spoke. The furrow in her brow that seemed to be plastered there from birth, the tenderness in her eyes when she spoke to Angel or The Gasman, her breathtaking wings, and the way her hair shone in the sunlight, framing her face and alighting her skin in a soft undying glow only I seemed to see. She was gorgeous in every way. How could I not think about her as a sexual being with all of that intimidating beauty overwhelming me? Man, did I have it bad for her. Who else could make me come up with sappy repulsive descriptions that made me want to puke and hang myself for just thinking that way, but at the same time make my heart race and my mind whirl in awe?

Max thinks I've gotten under _her_ skin? She must forget who broke me down little by little with out even knowing it and then wormed her way into making me feel this way about her. Not too long ago I couldn't think of her as anything more than my sister. That had been so easy. I don't know how it happened that I slowly started feeling more. It just did. Then she kissed me on the beach that night Ari nearly killed me, which I know was only an irrational impulse, but I'll admit something I would never admit to her or the Flock. That kiss saved my life. I was this close, _this _close, to just giving in and letting death settle in. But that kiss pulled me back. And what can I say? I'm a guy, I wanted more of her, and when a guy wants something, you know he's gunna get it.

See what I have to put up with? All these thoughts running through my head. It's exhausting! I'd much rather be kicking M-Geek ass than trying to sift through all this mushy icky love stuff. And had Max been there it would have been ten times worse. It was so much easier being her brother. I didn't have to deal with any of this crap. Was it too late to turn back now? Maybe there was still time, I learned to love her, I can learn to unlove her… not. Who was I kidding? Thanks a lot Max, god this is _so _out of character, it'll ruin my rep for sure. But I think it's worth it.

* * *

I had been lying there for what felt like ages. My eyes closed, my head pounding with a splitting migraine, and my wrist feeling like it was on fire. I was just waiting, listening for some kind of noise. Anything. Anything was better than this unnerving silence. Because in the silence I was forced to focus on my own thoughts. With nothing to distract me despite the bitter cold or the aching throughout my body, I was receding deeper and deeper into my mind. Dark thoughts, were threatening to creep upon me.

_What if I never make it out of this? What if this really is the end? I have no idea where I am, nobody will be able to find me! I'll never be able to see my mom, or my sister, Ella. I'll never see my Flock again. I'll never see F- No! Stop it Max! Snap out of it! You _can _make it out of this. You _will _see Fang again. You have to. _I thought and a lump formed in my throat. _You still have to apologize to him. Tell him that you love him. _I swallowed the lump hard and gritted my teeth._ I can't die yet. Not here, not like this. _

I busied myself by coming up with clever plans, a means to escape, a way out. My situation wasn't as grim as I thought. I had been in tighter binds before. And I've made it out just fine. This was nothing._ Okay, first, try and figure out where you are_. I told myself. I knew I was alone. There had been no sign of any one else since I woke up. So I figured it was safe to open my eyes. The last thing I wanted was for them to spot me awake and drug me again. Whatever it was they were giving me was strong, and it was scary.

Slowly I opened my eyes, only to be confronted by total darkness. I blinked a few times trying to adjust my eyes to the lack of light. _What if somehow those drugs made me go blind!? _I thought, panicking. But then I saw a sliver of light in the corner of the room I was in. I let out a sigh of relief. Okay, I wasn't blind. That's good. The light was coming from the cracks of some old boards to my right, that appeared to have been used to block out a window. From what I could make out it was a tiny window in the first place, high up in the corner of the wall. The light had a yellowish tint, so that meant, if it was natural light, that it was maybe mid day. What day, I had no clue. I think it had been a Wednesday when I was attacked… Or was it a Thursday? I had no idea how long I had been knocked out. It may have been weeks for all I knew! But I couldn't focus on that now.

I craned my neck as much as I could to peer around the room. From my vantage point all I could see was what was in front of me. I think there was a wall behind me. But I couldn't be sure. The room wasn't much. It was dark, and hard to see. But I could make out the walls, and was that a door in the shadows of one corner? The three walls that I could see were wooden, they were old, and rotten, they looked like they were about to fall over, and they didn't do much to block out the chilly October wind. I squinted trying to make out the door. Only, it wasn't a door. A sheet fluttered in the wind and I caught a glimpse of a dark hallway beyond.

There was nothing else significant in the room besides me, me, a bedside table, and whatever it was I was lying on. Upon further examination I found it to be just a simple wire frame cot with a thin mattress and an iron bared head board. No sheets, no blankets, only the mattress laid beneath my cold naked body. I shivered as a particularly bone chilling draft swept across my body raising the sensitive hairs on my skin. When I shivered I heard the sound of rattling chains. I tilted my head back and to the side to see my hands. They were handcuffed still. One on either side of my head each to an individual bar. I tested their strength, pulling with my left arm. They didn't seem to be too strong, I was sure a good firm tug or two would break the links. It would mean further injuring my broken wrist, but that was a necessary evil if I was going to make it out of here.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out as quietly as possible. Then I smirked to myself. This was going to be a piece of cake. As long as I stayed away from the needles, breaking out of this dump was going to be a breeze! Then I'd fly out of here and never look back. All I had to do was come up with some clever story to explain to Fang and the gang why I was returning with a lame wrist and no clothes. I could do that.

"Hello Max." My eyes snapped open when I heard the sound of a new voice. No it wasn't new. I think I recognized that raspy female voice. With my eyes more adjusted to the dim lighting I could make out a slim shadowy figure making her way toward me. Suddenly I was very self conscious that I had no clothes on. Not only was it completely embarrassing, but it put me in a very weak and vulnerable position. Which pissed me off. But there was nothing I could do about it now. Right now, I had to figure a way out of this.

"Sleep well?" Yes! That was it. She was in the room, she was the one who ordered the other guy to drug me again. What was it she said again? _Then give her more! He's not ready for her yet._ Whose he? What the hell was going on?

"Who are you?" I snapped. "Show yourself, coward!" I hissed glaring directly at her. I watched her reach up and pull on a thin cord hanging above her head. A naked bulb in the ceiling flashed on and I had to cringe, closing my eyes against the harsh light. Then slowly, I opened them again. She had thin black hair with streaks of pink, and way too much make up on. She was unnaturally sickly thin, so much so I could see her ribs and the bones in her wrists. She had a tray in her hands with a small loaf of bread, a glass of water, and a syringe. Suddenly I was aware of how hungry I was and my stomach growled loudly in protest.

"You must be starving." The woman said with an evil smirk. She sat on the edge of my bed and set the tray on the bedside table. She took the loaf of bread in her hands and tore it in half, then lowered one half in front of my face. "Here, eat this, your going to need food in your stomach."

"Awe, how considerate of you. I had no idea you cared so much." I snarled turning my head away. I'd have to be near death before I would even think about eating anything they gave me. Whoever _they_ were. I wasn't stupid, it was probably poisoned. As if reading my mind the woman lifted the bread to her lips and took a bite.

"Look? See there? Not poisoned. Now eat it." She ordered.

"Bite me." I snapped back. She shook her head and took another bite. Then, quick as lightning, she dropped the bread and leaned over me. Her face inches from mine. Before I had time to react her lips were on mine and forcing my mouth open. It was all I could do to thrash and struggle against her. I tried to yank my hands free of the cuffs but they had turned out stronger than I expected. The next thing I knew she was using her tongue to force the pre chewed food into my mouth. I tried to resist it, spit it out, get her off of me. But she held me down and jammed it down my throat forcing me to choke and swallow.

I moved my legs to kick at her but she caught them. She held my legs and pulled away to watch as I hacked and coughed on her vile saliva, and chewed food, still in my mouth. She smiled at me softly.

"There, see that wasn't so bad." She chuckled.

"Get off me!" I shouted. Then I gasped and froze as her hands flew to my inner thighs. She caressed the sensitive skin there softly making me squirm a little bit.

"Just relax Max." She whispered. "You'll learn to enjoy this."

"Yeah right- uhn!" I struggled to speak. The way she was moving her hands on me, expertly giving just the right amount of sensitivity to just the right spots, it made my stomach tie up in knots and send shivers up my spine. I clenched my jaw trying to stop my body from feeling those prickly tingly feelings. But I couldn't help it. And slowly I started feeling a strange and somewhat uncomfortable warmth in my midsection. It made me so angry that she was making me feel this way. I tried to squeeze my legs together to get her to stop. It worked momentarily and I could speak again.

"Who the hell are you? How do you know who I am?" I demanded, my heart racing and my breathing erratic. Then her hands moved up my hips, over my flat stomach and up to my bare breasts. "Stop it!" I cried and was horrified at how desperate and pleading my voice sounded. But she didn't stop. Her hands worked my breasts painfully slow, and I tilted my head back and moaned against my will. _This can't be happening._ I thought.

"That's right. Just relax." The woman whispered. "We know everything about you Maximum Ride. You're a huge star. I can't even begin to imagine how much dough we can get for you on the black market." She said.

"The what?" I asked breathlessly. _What the hell is she talking about!? _I was finding it hard to think straight with her all over me like this.

"Don't you get it yet Max? Why you're here? Your body, even if we take your virginity before we sell you, your body alone is worth at least half a million dollars." She explained. Then it hit me. My eyes widened and I stared at her with terror. You'd think I'd seen it all after what I've been through. But as karma would have it, it just kept getting worse. I wasn't here to be experimented on, even death would have been better than what they had in store for me. They were going to turn me into a prostitute!

_No! _I thought. "NO!" I screamed out loud and began to thrash with all my might. Pain tore through my right arm and my head felt like it was going to explode! But I kept struggling. I couldn't let them do this to me! I could just start to feel the chains on the cuffs give way when the woman's hand lashed out and grabbed the syringe. She jabbed it into my arm and pressed hard. I clenched my teeth and did everything in my power to stop her. But it wasn't enough.

Slowly I began to lose all feeling in my body. My vision blurred and my mind started to whirl as the drugs took effect. But it was different from the last two times. This time I wasn't losing consciousness. This time I was still very aware of what was going on around me. But I couldn't move, and it was hard to think clearly.

"You wont have a choice." The woman hissed. She was on top of me again. "Because tonight we're going to break that iron will of yours." Then she took up the tray, turned off the light, and left me there alone in the dark room again.

* * *

The hours dragged. Then they didn't. Then they did. It was hard to tell. I couldn't think straight. Nothing connected. My mind was still reeling from what ever it was she put in my body. And I felt sick to my stomach. I think I threw up a few times. Then… Ever so slowly, the fog started to clear up. I still couldn't move but at least I could think. I strained to see the boarded up window. But there was no light now. It was dark. _Shit. _

My eyes shot to the door way when three men came in and the light was turned back on. I recognized one of them. The big Ox man that confronted me in they ally. The other two were unfamiliar. But they each had in their hands something silvery. I couldn't quite make out what they were. They were moving too quickly.

"Just relax Max, this will only take a moment." Ox man said smoothly coming up to me. He reached down and undid the hand cuffs. My first instinct was to jump up and kick somebody's ass. But to my horror I couldn't move a muscle.

"Don't touch me!" I managed to hiss as he lifted me off the bed. My arms fell and hung limply and my legs dangled over his arm. Having no control over my muscles, my wings unflurled on they're own and hung as limp as my arms. _What's happening to me!? _I thought as Ox man cradled me to him.

"You sick disgusting pervert! Let me go!" I ordered.

"As you wish princess." He snarled back and let me go. The air exploded from my lungs as I hit the floor hard. I laid there gasping for breath for a moment, completely helpless. While I was still trying to catch my breath he rolled me over onto my stomach, which only made it harder to breath. I felt his hands run through the feathers of my wings softly.

"It's a shame we have to do this to you Max." He started, "You're wings… they are so beautiful."

"I said don't touch me!" I ordered again, but he didn't listen he continued to caress my feathers gently. I was ready to puke.

"But we wouldn't want you getting away now would we?" He continued as if I hadn't said a word. "So the wings are going to have to go."

As the extent of what he just said to me sunk in, my eyes widened and my heart nearly stopped. Take my wings? He couldn't do that! _No! Please No! Voice! Where are you? _I screamed in my head. _Help me!_ I begged desperately. I gasped when Ox man took both of my wings in his hands and began to pull them backwards and together. I screamed. It was _the _worst pain I had ever felt in my life.

"STOP IT!" I screamed pathetically. But he didn't stop. "Ah- Damn it! They aren't supposed to go back that far!" But he kept pulling harder. I didn't hear the snap of my wings breaking through my scream of pain. But I felt it. I take back what I said before, _that _ was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Ox man dropped my wings and the other two men stepped up to me now as I whimpered in pain. Tears squeezed through my eyes and soaked my cheeks.

Then I opened my eyes as the men knelt down beside me. I could only see one of them because they had stationed them selves on either side of me. But when I looked at the one on my right, my heart literally stopped this time. The silvery thing he had in his hands were scissors!

"No! No, no, no, no, no! Please! Don't!" I begged as he reached down and began to cut the feathers of my wings. They were clipping my wings! I would never be able to fly again! My deepest darkest nightmare was coming true right before my eyes! And there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was alone, I was naked and helpless, and now… My wings… they were useless… My wings were gone.

* * *

"Max!" I cried out as I sat bolt up right in bed. I panted hard, sweat rolling off my forehead in streams. _Max! I- I saw her! I saw her, she was in pain, some one was hurting her. They were hurting her wings! They-_ My eyes widened as I realized what I had seen. They were clipping her wings!

Hard footsteps came running, and the door flew open.

"Fang!? What is it? What's going on?" It was Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Iggy right behind her. I resisted letting out a sigh of relief. It had only been a dream. _Thank god. _

I shook my head. "Nothing, I'm fine. Bad dream." I told them and they seemed to relax a little. Nightmares, two nights in a row now. And both about Max. Man, I think I was more paranoid than Max was!

"Did Max come back yet?" I asked leaning over to pull the shades apart and look outside. It was still dark. Probably around four in the morning. I looked back to Nude as she shook her head.

"No, no sign of Max." she said then hesitated before going on. "D-do you think she's ok?" she asked quietly. Very unlike her.

I nodded, "I'm sure she's fine. She's done this before remember?" I said forcing myself to stay calm. I was good at that.

Nudge bit her lip. "Last time, she was shot, and almost killed." She reminded me. My eyes widened momentarily but I quickly regained control. No, I could not, would not believe that Max wasn't ok. She was just taking her time. That was all.

"Go back to bed." I told every one as I laid back down and pulled the covers over my head. I listened as they hesitated at first then slowly closed the door and went back to their beds. I laid there staring at the inside of the blanket for a while. I clenched my jaw as I thought about the possibility of Max hurt or dead somewhere and us with no idea where she was. _You better not be dead._ I growled in my head as if she could hear me. _You better be ok.

* * *

_﻿**Little bit longer this one. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to R&R**

**P.S.**

**Iggy really is an amazing cook!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning: Dark and Twisties in this chapter. (Max is raped) Not graphic. You were warned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. And I do not own Iggy, I've only kidnapped him. And I squeeze him like a big teddy bear cause I love hims SO much! weeeee! On a more depressing note, here's the next chapter.  
**

* * *

I wasn't worried about Max, how could I be? If I got worried about Max every time she disappeared for a while I'd go insane. And if that happened we'd all be in trouble. Besides, she always turned up sooner or later, so worrying just seemed like a waste of time and energy. She's Maximum Ride for cry'n out loud, the only thing I'm worried about if she were attacked, is weather or not her _attacker _lived_._ So I ignored the rock that settled in the pit of my stomach, despite my mental pep talk, and busied myself with looking after the Flock in her absence.

Max had been gone one full day and two full nights, granted that's the longest she's _ever_ ran away from the Flock, but as I keep telling you, I wasn't worried. The others however were just the opposite.

"What if she flew into an airplane!?" Nudge asked going on her fifteenth theory for Max's lack of presence. "You know because she was flying so fast she just didn't watch where she was going? And then the airplane pilot had to make an emergency landing because he could have sworn he hit a flying girl, and all of his pilot friends laughed at him and called him crazy. Then they had to send out a helicopter to search for Max, but they couldn't find her because she fell into one of the 10,000 lakes in this state and Max dro-"

"Enough, Nudge!" Iggy cried sandwiching his head between two pillows. He sat up and threw a pillow at Nudge with extreme accuracy for a blind kid. He was sitting on the guest room couch and she was in the recliner. The pillow hit her in the arm and she let it fall to the ground where Gazzy was sitting. The Gasman took the pillow and hugged it to him listening in to Nudge and Iggy. "Max didn't fly into an airplane. And she didn't fall into a lake. And she definitely didn't get locked away in some tower, or turned into a pumpkin, or flew to Antarctica and eaten by a sea lion, or get lost in the Mall of America, and she didn't eat bad sushi and have to be hospitalized from food poisoning, and she most certainly _didn't _get shot with an arrow on accident by a handsome elf named Legless who rescued her and nurtured her back to health and then she fell deeply in love with him and they eloped to Canada where they lived happily ever after with out us!"

"Legolas" Nudge said out of nowhere.

"What?" Iggy asked confused.

"Legolas, the elf from The Lord of the Rings who shot Max rescued her and then married her, his name was Legolas." She explained looking over at Iggy. Iggy growled with frustration and threw the other pillow at her. It hit her in the face this time and she yelped, startled. Then she hugged the pillow to her like Gazzy did. Nudge sniffed back tears.

"I can't help thinking something's wrong. I mean… what could be keeping her from us so long?" She asked. Gazzy nodded his head.

"I agree, I mean, what if she _is _hurt and we're just sitting here doing nothing? She could be dead by now!" Gazzy exclaimed letting Nudge's overactive imagination get to him.

"She's not dead Gaz," Iggy said. "She probably just got over stressed and went home to Dr. Martinez."

"With out us?" Gazzy asked. "With out even telling us?" Iggy just shrugged in response.

"Wh-what if…" Nudge sniffed and wiped her eyes. "What if something really terrible is happening to her right now? She could be dying… If she's not already dead."

"She's not dead!" Iggy exclaimed angrily.

"How do _you _know?" Angel asked finally getting into the conversation. She had been very quiet the entire time, just sitting at the table staring down at her worn teddy bear in her lap. The one she named Celeste. "How would you know she wasn't dead somewhere? We would never know…" I tightened my jaw furiously. How could they be even thinking stuff like this!? Had they no faith?

"_I _would know." I said standing up straight from where I was leaning, my back to them, on the kitchenette peninsula. I turned to face them all now. "If Max where dead, if she were really in trouble, _I _would know. I would feel it. I would just know." Everyone stared at me and I turned my impassive eyes to stare out the kitchen window. "Max is fine." I said with confidence.

So why was this sick feeling nagging at the depths of my heart? Why didn't I feel as confident as I sounded? Why can't I get her out of my head!? _Max, where the hell could you be?_

* * *

They had given me a blanket. But it didn't do much to keep me warm. I hardly noticed it was there, laying over my naked and broken body.

_Why? _I kept thinking. _Why did they have to strip me down to nothing?_ _What was the point in that?_

_To make me feel vulnerable… To make me weak._

_Why? Why did they take my wings? Why did they have to take the one thing I valued most in my life? Was it necessary to hurt me so?_

_They want me… They want my body… They want me here… Without my wings… I can not escape… I can not run… I am trapped… I am cold… I am weak… I am vulnerable… And I just don't care anymore._

_Where is my family? Where is Fang? Were they safe? Did they care? Did I… care?_

I shifted beneath the covers and cringed in pain. Movement was painful. My wrist was broken, my wings were mangled, and the room kept spinning, hurting my head. The drug they continued to give me always made me feel like I was constantly on the verge of puking up my guts, but I could never quite make it there. It weakened me and it was hard to move, and that infuriated me. Yet when they didn't give it to me, everything felt ten times worse, I could feel my body withdrawal, I began to _need _those drugs. That was torture. And the cold wind only intensified the pain, it emphasized the nausea, and I could feel the cold right down to my bones. I forced myself not to shiver but that only seemed to make it worse.

I could not lie on my back. My wings would not fold and the pain was too much. So I laid on my side. My hands were cuffed together this time and wrapped around one bar, instead of two. The other cuffs were around my ankles. The cold steel bit into my skin and was uncomfortable. But it was bearable compared to the other pains. Like the sharp gnawing hunger in my stomach. How long had it been since I'd eaten?

Time was impossible to read. Everything just seemed to blur and mesh together. I could never tell what time of day it was, or how many days had passed, or if time had passed at all. I felt dead. I _wished_ I were dead.

They were trying to break me. Trying to get me to give up, to let them take me. And it worked. I had no desire to escape any more. It would take too much effort. I hadn't the energy or the resistance to try. And they would surely catch me again anyway. I could not fly. There was no way out. I was helpless and alone, I was weak and I was broken. I was worthless. I was dying inside.

I felt the tears make their way down the already worn path on my face. I knew what would be coming next. I knew what they had in store for me. The knowledge hung over me like a shadow. When I let myself divulge in the darkness my pulse would quicken and fear would encase my heart, taking over my body, making me tremble. This only made the pain worse and I used what little bit of me was still alive to calm myself down. But sometimes it wasn't enough. I cried. I cried so much. And I didn't even care.

The terror of my impending fate was the worst torture of all. I knew what was going to happen to me. Waiting for it like this, never knowing if the next footsteps I hear will be the steps of my doom. The man who would take me. Against my will. The _he _that every one keeps muttering about when they come to drug me again. Was it Ox man? Was he the master? Or was it someone else? I didn't know, and the suspense I was left in was like a dagger to my heart. _God just get it over with already!_ I begged silently. _Please! Just-_

My thoughts were cut short by the sound of slow, patient footsteps. They were coming my way. I could hear them, they were close. They were different from the footsteps I had heard before. _Could this be it?_ But they seemed somehow so familiar. They sounded so close to me. So… gentle. My eyes flickered to the sheet. They were coming. The footsteps came closer, until I heard them stop, just outside my room. Then nothing. No one came in.

I hadn't been drugged for a while and the withdrawals, hadn't settled in quite yet. I was in a state that I could think semi-clearly. So it occurred odd to me that no one had entered. It was then I had the notion that perhaps he, or whoever they were, didn't need to come in. Maybe they could just watch me. Stand there and stare at me. A peephole! The pervert could be staring at me through a peephole! How many others would stand there and see me? The thought sickened me and I almost couldn't swallow the bile that rose up my throat and into my mouth. I squeezed my eyes trying to pretend I couldn't feel his hungry eyes on me. I tried to ignore how my body burned with his gaze. I tried to think of something else, to get my mind off it. _Please… Go away._ But then I heard the sheet rustle and the footsteps entered the room.

"Max?" My eyes flew open. _Th-that voice! _My heart started to race. _I know that voice! I-It couldn't be!_ I slowly shifted my eyes to look at the figure in my doorway. It was too dark to make out the details of his sharp face. A face I knew as well as my own. I could only make out his familiar shape. He came closer to me. He had something in his hands. I stared at him wide eyed. _Could it be? Is it really him?_

"Max, it's ok now. Don't be afraid." He said in his smooth, deep, hard voice. I didn't hear it very often but it had become a voice that I loved. A voice that always knew exactly what to say. _His _voice. He stepped closer and the fragment of cool light from the window illuminated a portion of him. I could see his hands. They were rough and calloused, but I knew them as very soft and gentle hands. Hands that had held me when I cried, hands that had wiped the tears and held me steady.

He took another cautious step. I could see his eyes. His deep dark eyes. Eyes that were as hard as his voice but at the same time as soft as his hands. Eyes that I had found myself staring into a countless number of times. Eyes that held no emotion, except for when he looked at me. I loved it when he looked at me. I loved him.

"F-Fang?" I whispered in disbelief and shock. A tender smile teased at the corner of his lips and he nodded. Was that malice I saw flicker in his eyes? No, it couldn't be. It was gone as soon as it had been there. It couldn't have been there at all.

"Yes Max, I'm here now."

* * *

Angel picked at the food on her plate with a fork. She had hardly touched it at all. She rolled an olive around and the fork accidentally pierced the skin and went through it. Angel put the fork down. Across from her Nudge was picking at a lettuce leaf with her fingers. Tearing pieces off and flicking it back on her plate. Gazzy sat cross legged by the sliding glass door, his plate in his lap. He was staring out at the lake, hardly giving his food a second glance. Iggy was in the recliner near Gazzy. He just stared at his plate, his sightless blue eyes seemed lost in thought. I watched them all from the living room couch, my plate, growing cold, was beside me. I hadn't touched my food either. No one spoke. But everyone was thinking the same thing. We were thinking about Max.

I had to admit, I was worried now. The sun was setting, another day gone, and Max was still missing. This wasn't like her at all. The rock in the pit of my stomach had grown to the size of a small boulder. I couldn't eat. The thought of eating made me feel like throwing up. No one could eat. Not when everyone was so damn worried about her. Now anger boiled deep within me melting the boulder into a pool of boiling lava. I swear to god, if she really was ok, I was going to kill her for doing this to us. I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes. _How could she be so selfish?_

I looked up out the glass door. The sun was nearly submerged completely in the lake. The light would be drowned soon. There was nothing I could do about Max today. I stood with the plate in my hands and went to Gazzy and Iggy. I took their plates, which they put up no fight to keep, and stacked them with mine, food and all. Then I went to the table where Nudge and Angel were. I took their plates as well. I walked the few steps to the kitchen sink and placed all five paper plates gently in the trash bag underneath.

"Get ready for bed." I said. No body moved. "We're going back to Arizona tomorrow, so get some sleep." Iggy looked up at me.

"What about Max?" he asked.

"We can't leave with out her." Nudge added looking to me as well. Gazzy stood and turned so he could see me over the counter. Angel was the only one who didn't respond. She picked at the hem of Celeste's dingy gray dress. Once upon a time I think the dress had been white. But that wasn't the case any more.

"Iggy's right. Max most likely went back already. She's probably there waiting for us." I said scraping the left over food from the pans into the trash. It was a waste I know. But no one was going to eat it.

"Fang?" I turned at the sound of Angel's small voice. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again and shook her head. "Never mind." She sighed. My eyes softened. Life with out Max was hard. It was like life with out oxygen. It felt like we were all holding our breath, waiting for Max. And we were running out of air.

I took it upon myself to remove the cushions from each of the couches and pull out the beds. Then I went over and took Angel up in my arms and carefully carried her over to the bed she and Nudge were sharing. I laid her down gently and pulled the sheets up over her body. Then I pushed some of her perfect golden curls out of her face and leaned down to kissed her forehead tenderly, just like Max would. I looked up as Gazzy, not Nudge, crawled into bed next to his sister. He sunk beneath the sheets and hugged Angel tightly before getting comfortable. Nudge stood and quietly went over to Iggy. She tapped the back of his hand as she went by and Iggy reached out and took hers. Nudge led Iggy to the other bed. I heard her sniffle. She was trying so hard not to cry.

Iggy let her lay down first. Then he must have heard her start to cry because the look on his face deepened with pain. He got into bed beside her and pulled her close. Not even bothering with the covers. Nudge cried into Iggy's chest and Iggy just held her all the more tightly. She needed that. I waited, listening to Nudge's quiet sobs, watching them all in the fading light. I waited until I could no longer hear them crying, until soft and even breathing of four exhausted bird kids on a vacation to hell, filled the room. Then I went into the room Max and I were supposed to be sharing, and laid in the bed Max was supposed to be in.

I laid there and tried to relax. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. But we all know that sleep would be impossible for me. Not with this worry weighing down so heavily on me. Not only was I scared, scared for Max, but I had the others' worries on me as well. It was like I was a sponge and everyone's emotions were being sucked into me like water. And the boulder had grown back in my stomach. Making it nearly impossible to breathe. But I tried to sleep anyway. I just hoped I didn't have another one of those nightmares.

* * *

I smiled at her. Feigning compassion for her. I did not pity her though. I _hated _her. She _deserved_ everything she got. Everything she was going to get. Everything _I_ was going to give her. Right away she trusted me. A feeling of triumph came over me as I looked into her eyes and saw the overwhelming relief at the sight of me. Of _me. _Her dear beloved Fang. I was going to save her. Take her away from this place. That was why I was here, in her mind. That was fine. She could go on believing that. In fact, I wanted her to. The more she trusted me now, the more anguish she'll feel when I betrayed that trust. The thought of it excited me.

Maximum Ride. Yes I knew who she was, how could I not? Every one else saw her as a hero! Their savior! It made me gag. She was no hero. She was a monster._ My _Max, she was the real hero. With out her this Max, the original Max, the _real _Max as she was called, she wouldn't even be alive without My Max. And what did she get in return for saving this worthless piece of trash? Nothing! This Max, she took her family and disappeared after her mission had been accomplished. Only to rise up later as a super star! While the rest of us were left to our own defense, we were forgotten about. She didn't deserve to be loved.

None of the others agreed with me. They thought Max was their hero. They hated me for not loving her. And when I shared with My Max how I felt, she got angry at me. She told me I was wrong! Told me that Max, _this _Max, she was the real deal, she would save the world. But I knew that was wrong. My Max, she hated me, she threw me out, she told me that if I ever tried to hurt This Max, she would find, and she would kill me. I was left alone. But she couldn't understand! I was doing this for _her_! I loved her! This Max was nothing compared to the beauty of My Max. My Max was smarter, she was better! This Max, just her being alive, her breathing the same air as My Max, was an insult. She needed to be punished. She needed to be taken out. I could do that. I would do that. And I would enjoy every minute of it.

I never thought I'd actually get the chance. This Max was untouchable. I was in no way equipped to seek her out, corner her, and take her. No, it had to be fate that brought her to me. No amount of planning could have gotten me this far. It had to be destiny. To think, her showing up on my turf, completely off her wall. She was an easy target. It was fate. I was fated to take her. Like I knew I would all along.

My job was simple. It was pleasurable. And it brought in a lot of cash. I picked them, and I took them. I held them for a while. I got them addicted to meth. I weakened them. But I did not touch them. That wasn't part of my job. Then I shipped them to Mexico, where I sold them to the highest bidder. They could do what they wished with them then. My job was done. I got my cash. I did my job well.

There were risks involved with every article. Some overdosed. Some found a way to kill themselves. One even drowned in her own puke. Not all of them survived the shipping process. But if I did my job well, my reward was high. I never touched them. That wasn't my job. If they were damaged in that way they would not sell. Articles that did not sell were terminated. And I got no reward. But Max was different. Max would sell. Max was famous. She was loved. She would sell, even if I took her first. I was going to take her. I was going to hurt her. Give her a taste of the hell she is going to live in for the rest of her miserable, worthless life.

I relished in the trust in her eyes. Oh if only she knew. I smiled softly at her as I placed the tray I had been carrying on the bedside table. A plate of warm food was on it. I heard the satisfying sound of her stomach growling hungrily at the smell of the food. I had made sure I didn't feed her for two days. She needed to be starved, so I could feed her myself. So she would trust me. I pulled out a key. More relief flooded her eyes as I unlocked her ankles first. Then her wrists. She stayed laying on her side. She looked up at me with love. Tears in her eyes. I nearly gagged. She was disgusting. How could Fang love this wretch? I hated her. But I stayed calm. I had to stay calm. I had to do this right. It had to be perfect.

"Fang, we need to get out of here." She whispered. I shook my head and shushed her quietly.

"It's ok Max. You're safe now. You need to relax." I told her keeping my voice smooth and gentle. I added a hint of worry in my eyes, just for the dramatics. This seemed to win her over. But she was still hesitant.

"But-" She protested and I shushed her again. I took the plate of food and filled the fork with its contents. I held the fork in front of her mouth.

"Here, you need to eat something." I told her. She looked like she wanted to tell me something then. But when she opened her mouth I silenced her by putting the fork in her mouth. I watched her, keeping the hunger for her out of my eyes. She accepted me now. She would eat. She ate slowly. Because she was weak. But soon the food made her feel a little better. That was good. When she was done I put the plate down. Then I stood.

"Fang?" she asked in a small voice. I turned to her.

"It's ok, I'm here." I assured her. Then I reached down to my pants. I unzipped them. I began to pull them down. I saw her eyes widen in fear. She was starting to doubt. Perfect.

"F-Fang?" She whispered again. I shushed her gently once more.

"Just relax Max, this will only hurt… A lot." Then the look of pure horror as she realized what was happening. What was going to happen. What I was going to do to her. She was terrified. I could see it. I let the malice show in my eyes. Tears escaped her eyes and she shook her head.

"No. Please. Fang What are doing?" she whimpered pathetically. It only added fuel to my flame. It was so exhilarating. I had her life in the palm of my hand. And she knew it. She was smart. I'll give her that. I felt my pulse quicken, my heart pounding in my ears. I was excited. She was going to get what she deserved.

She screamed in pain and in fear as I pinned her on her back by her wrists. I tore the blanket from her and gazed down at her naked body. It was mine. All mine. She was going to feel the pain. And I was going to give it to her. I could hear her, crying, pleading, begging me not to do this to her. But her cries were distant. I barely heard them. I wasn't going to listen.

I listened to her scream. She was in pain. I was hurting her. It felt good. So, so good. She would say it was bad. But she was so wet. I felt her quiver many times. Heard her scream. Heard her cry. I immersed myself in it, enjoying every second. Then I finished her. I gave her the meth, pulled on my pants, didn't even bother cuffing her back up. She wasn't going anywhere. And I left her to lie in her blood. In her sweat. In me. In her filth. And I watched her. I waited for her to wake. Then I did it all over again. And again. All night. Each time was as wonderful as the last.

* * *

I didn't have time to think. I didn't sit up or scream her name this time. I jumped out of bed. I had to get outside. I jumped out of the bed and tore through the cabin, not caring if I woke the others. I stumbled out the door and tripped over my own feet, I fell and I tumbled off of the deck. Pain exploded in my head as I hit the brick walk way. I ignored the pain and the blood that trickled down into my eyes as I scrambled back up to my feet.

"Fang!?" I head Nudge call as they all came racing out after me. I ignored her too as I stumbled to a tree. I used one hand on it to support myself as I doubled over and threw up the contents of my stomach. I chucked it all up, choking and gagging loudly. And when there was nothing left to puke, I threw up some more. Dry heaving the acids in my stomach. When I was finally done I stood up and leaned against the tree weakly. I trembled all over and I still felt like I was going to throw up.

I heard Nudge and the others come up behind me, and a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked up to see Iggy standing next to me.

"You ok?" He asked.

"M'fine." I lied wiping my mouth and coughing up a little more bile. Everyone looked at me with worry. But I didn't see them, I couldn't get those images out of my head. Those horrible disgusting images. Not only did I have another nightmare about Max, but they were getting worse. What sick thoughts were going through my head to make me dream about Max being raped? I felt another wave of nausea wash over me at the thought of it, but I swallowed it down hard. I looked over the lake. The sun was rising.

"Get everything together." I said regaining a bit of control and my voice returning to normal. "We're leaving. _Now."

* * *

_**Mwahahahahaha! Ok ok ok I know I'm probably going to get a lot of flames for this chapter it was sick and it was wrong... but you have to admit it was AWESOME! And well written if I do say so myself. Yep, this chapter was deffinantly my favorite to write so far. I hope not too many of you were losing your lunch with Fang though, it was pretty intense. But that's how I like it. lol Next chappy will be up soon so review!**

**P.S.**

**Have you ever wonder what Iggy looks like when he sleeps? Can you say, gorgeous!? Some people may call me a stalker, but I think I'm just an obsessed fangirl who kidnapped a really cute bird kid. He's SO adorable. I think I'm going to marry him!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride! And -sniffle- Iggy ran away. :_(  
**

* * *

We left the lake cabin in pristine condition. We cleaned up our mess, made it look like we had never been there. I made sure of it. I figured we were rude enough to break in and use their cabin for four days, we should at least be kind enough to leave it the way we found it. I also made sure the kids all ate as much as their stomachs could hold before we left. Made the Gasman go down to the lake several times, just in case. I didn't want to be making very many pit stops on the way home. As few as we could, one if necessary, two at the most, zero if possible. I didn't eat though. I couldn't eat, didn't have the stomach for it. I was still a little woozy after this morning, and every once and a while I caught glimpses of last night's nightmare. I had to quickly shut them out though, I couldn't let Angel see it. So I was too busy to eat, and I hoped the others didn't notice.

We flew south west, back to Arizona, where Dr. Martinez, Jeb, Ella, Total, and hopefully Max were waiting for us. No, not hopefully, surely, surely Max was there waiting for us. Where else could she be?

"Hey, Nudge, Angel! Watch this!" I looked down when I heard Gazzy cry out. I had taken over Max's bubble and hadn't really noticed the others below me. I focused on them now as Gazzy did a summersault into a cloud and came out with his arms and legs outstretched like a big X, leaving a hole in the cloud in the shape of his body. You know like how you see on cartoons? When some one flies through a cloud and the cloud doesn't just fill up like it's supposed to, it leaves a hole in it? Yeah, like that, only cooler. Gazzy's impression didn't last too long before the cloud kind of drifted apart, dissipating into the air. Gazzy in turn was soaking wet. He laughed hysterically.

"Hey! Hey! Guys! Did you know clouds were made of water!?" He seemed very pleased with himself over his discovery.

"Of course they are, haven't you ever flown through one before?" Iggy asked swooping in next to Gazzy. Usually we tried to avoid clouds when we flew. Iggy however, being blind, had the unfortunate incapability to see where he was going, flying into clouds was often a result of that.

"Maybe," Gazzy said shrugging. "If I have I don't think I noticed it too much."

Nudge laughed. "I always wondered what it was like in a cloud. I asked Max once if you can see inside a cloud. She didn't answer me though. She just gave me one of those looks like- Yeah! Like that!" She said pointing at Iggy who was giving her a smug 'are you really being serious?' look.

Angel had a big smile on her face. She giggled at Nudge while she tied Celeste to her waist with a piece of old rope we found by the docks at the lake.

"Ok! I want to try!" She cried out and swerved upward into a cloud. She burst out through the top and tucked her wings in just right, making her twirl in the air. Water droplets flew off her as she extended her wings and arms again, looking like an angel. She laughed.

"It feels like flying through rain!" She said and Gazzy nodded in agreement.

"Come on Iggy! Try it with me!" Nudge called flying up next to him.

Iggy shook his head. "Actually, I'm goo- woah!" Iggy's reply was cut short as Nudge took his hand and pulled him with her into a particularly big and dark cloud. They ended up falling through the bottom because they were so wet it was hard to fly. But they managed to stay aloft, and the wind dried them quickly. Nudge was laughing, having the time of her life while Iggy was scowling angrily.

"Now look what you did." Iggy scoffed,

"Awe what's the matter Iggy?" Nudge giggled finding it hard to keep from laughing. "Put out cause you had to take a bath after all?"

"That's it! Come here you!" Nudge squealed as Iggy lunged for her and started a game of sky tag. There was laughing and playing all around, and I couldn't help but smirk watching them. Flying really was the best. Even in the worst of times, even when Max was missing and things were looking bad, flying always lifted our spirits. We could be ourselves up here, leave all of our fears and worries on Earth and just soar carelessly through the clouds. Nothing was better than that.

Even Max could unwind when we were up here. She was in her best frame of mind when she could just let the kids be and fly as high as she could go. She almost seemed peaceful at times like this. Of course Max was never completely at rest. Too much to think about and do, she had a lot riding on those tense shoulders of hers. The fate of the world for instance. Hard to relax when you have 'saving the world' on your plate. And when you're a globally known, mutated avian hybrid, science fair project gone wrong, wanted by every power hungry evil mastermind in the world, you just don't have time to rest. Which was why we all knew this vacation was a bad idea in the first place. And which was also why things like flying robot monkeys, just don't catch us by surprise like they used to.

"Fang! Look out!" I felt the air escape from my lungs in a huge burst as Angel barreled into me, throwing me off course just as something fast and silvery zoomed past my face.

"That was close, thanks Ang." I gasped catching my breath quickly and righting myself again. "What the heck was that?"

"It was a flying monkey!" Gazzy exclaimed out of nowhere circling the area in large irregular loops.

"Like from the Wizard of Oz?" Nudge asked. Her eyes darted every which way keeping close watch for another attack. Instinctually after an attack we went higher up above the clouds so we couldn't be seen, but that never stopped a desperate attempt to end our lives before now has it?

"Yeah!" Gazzy exclaimed. "Only it was a robot! A flying robot monkey!"

"Well that wouldn't surprise me any." Iggy said rolling his eyes.

"Seems a little… childish, don't you think?" Nudge cut in as we continued to fly. What ever it had been, a bullet or a flying monkey, we needed to get out of there, just in case there happened to be more of them aiming our way. "I mean, if this is another attempt by Itex to capture us, it's kinda lame. It missed Fang and it hasn't come back. And there was only one, why haven't they sent more? All I'm saying is compared to the Erasers, the Flyboys, the Clones, and the M-Geeks, a flying robot monkey feels a bit insulting. Like, after living a life of luxury for two months we'd be off our game and an easy target or something."

"No, _that _doesn't make any sense at all." Iggy said sarcastically. Then he did a double take. "Gee, that couldn't be why Max has been so uptight lately could it? And why she ran off?"

"Max is always uptight. I wouldn't worry too much about that." I assured him my eyes still scanning for danger.

"And besides, Max running off was Fang's fault." Angel added. I shot her a glare which she returned with an innocent smile.

"What happened that night anyway?" Nudge asked. I clenched my jaw hard. I wasn't much for talking anyway, but I guess I could say I'm good at saying what needs to be said, _when_ it needs to be said. But this was one topic I was not willing to open my mouth about. Not to them, not even to Max, not to anyone.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Well obviously something happened or we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." She shot back. I decided not to say anything more. I didn't need to justify myself to them. And even if Max did, that was her problem, not mine.

"Incoming! Flying Robot Monkey three o'clock, on your left Iggy!" Gazzy called and Iggy rolled out of the way just in time for another silvery flying object to miss him. We all shot upwards again at once. We should have been getting relatively high up by now. But it was hard to tell because there were so many clouds and the temperature didn't really change much. It was cold wherever you went.

"What was it? Did you see it? Was it really a flying robot monkey from the Wizard of Oz?" Iggy asked as we all regrouped.

"The flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz were _not _robots Iggy." Angel corrected him crossly.

"How am I supposed to know that?" he said back with a shrug.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter because that wasn't a flying robot monkey anyway." Nudge said matter-of-factly.

"Was too! I saw it!" Gazzy shot back.

"I saw it too and it most definitely was _not._"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Enough already!" I said raising my voice only just over their bickering. "Why don't we just head back down and see for sure what it was." I suggested.

"That's exactly what they _want _us to do. They're trying to lure us out in the open for a clearer shot!" Gazzy proclaimed. It was a reasonable accusation, and after what we've been through it wouldn't surprise me any more than if it really were a flying robot monkey. But if we didn't find out exactly what it really was I'd have to put up with Nudge and Gazzy's arguing about it all the way back to Arizona. And I just didn't have the patients for that.

"Alright, you guys stay here, I'll go check it out." I said.

"No way! We've already lost Max, we can't risk losing you too!" Nudge objected. With out thinking I turned on her.

"We have not lost Max! She'll be back soon okay!?" I said losing my temper for the first time in like, ever. "And until then I'm in charge and what I say goes. Iggy, your in charge. Make sure everyone stays put." I ordered and dove quickly below the clouds. Of course, this is the Iggy we're talking about. He hardly takes orders from Max. Unless it were literally a life or death situation, and even then he'd find his own way to silently rebel. And I was well aware that he and the others followed just enough to watch me.

Once below the clouds I didn't have much time to recon before I was completely blindsided by another flying robot monkey. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the silvery bullet like creature heading right for me, but I didn't have time to react as I turned to face it and it hit me hard in the stomach. My arms flew instantly to surround it and keep it from going anywhere and attacking again.

"Fang!" I heard the others cry as they all came down to my rescue. But as soon as I had it in my arms I knew there was no danger. I even found it hard to contain a bit of snickering when I realized exactly what it was that caused us so much fuss.

"Fang?" Gazzy asked cautiously their approach slowing.

"Is this, what you saw Gazzy?" I asked easily holding the object out for every one to see. It was a toy plane. And a very nice one at that. Probably cost the owner a nice big wad of cash. It was a high tech, fully operational, metal model of an F1-50 fighter jet. And it looked in no way, like a flying robot monkey.

"Heh, oops." Gazzy mumbled when every one turned to him with evil glares. Turned out we had been flying unusually low with out even noticing it. A number of things contributed to this fact. For one we were all a bit distracted what with sky tag and the empty space Max's absence has left. Also, it was a particularly cloudy today and the clouds just happened to be riding pretty low in the sky as well. And it was almost winter, so flying up high like usual meant flying in a colder atmosphere, naturally we avoided that.

We had been flying over a city, and in a park there had been a couple of rich snobby kids playing with their over priced remote control plane. They saw a flock of unusually large birds and decided to have some fun and attack them with it. Gazzy, who seemed a little 'high' off of cloud diving, mistook the toy as a flying robot monkey. A common mistake for an eight year old mutant bird kid whose been on the run from such things most of his life.

So imagine how shocked _you _would be if you were playing with your toy plane in the park and the giant bird you were teasing with it suddenly snatched it out of thin air and then came swooping back down into the park to return it to you, only to turn out to be in fact _not _a giant bird but a bird _kid_. Now, imagine the complete opposite reaction. And that's pretty much what happened.

Against my better judgment I decided that whoever this plane belonged to, probably wanted it back. So the flock and I came down and landed in the only park within a ten mile radius of us. I didn't even have to look for the plane's owner because as soon as I landed two finely dressed boys came running up to us.

"Hey! Give us our plane back!" the boy with the remote ordered holding out his free hand.

"Excuse me?" I asked a little taken aback. Kids these days, no manners.

"You heard him, give it here! We saw you take it, we want it back!" The other boy scolded.

"You attacked us with it!" Nudge said outraged by the kids' behavior. "Your lucky we didn't blow the stupid thing to smithereens!" she exclaim throwing her hands up.

"If there's even one scratch on my new Flyboy-500 your in big trouble!" Woah now, back up. Flyboy-500? Now that was an uncanny name for a toy plane. And did this kid have any _idea_ who he was talking to?

_Yeah, he saw us take his plane from the air remember? _I heard Angel's voice in my head and was a little startled. I wondered if this was how Max felt when her voice spoke nonsense to her. _He doesn't care, he just wants his plane back. _Angel explained.

"Relax kid," I said and held the plane out for him. He snatched it from me and gave it a quick once over.

"You're lucky. I'll let you off with a warning this time. Next time I better not catch you messing with my plane." He said. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. To tell the truth I found this whole thing to be rather pathetic. But Iggy on the other hand was ticked off. He stepped forward, fists clenched, blind eyes sending death glares between the two boys.

"Next time? You little punk! I have half a mind to break that thing in half for attacking us like that." Iggy shouted angrily.

"Ha! This plane is made of high performance titanium. There's no way you could even bend it!" The second boy scoffed.

"Watch me." Iggy growled and went to grab the plane from them. He would have succeeded in wrecking the thing too if I didn't stop him. I put my hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly.

"Forget it Igs, let's go, we still have to find Max." I told him and turned to get ready to take off. Iggy let out an irritated huff but obeyed. "Your welcome." I tossed back to the two boys and took a running leap. I snapped out my wings and beat down hard, without even dropping an inch I soared upwards and back into the sky. The others followed right behind me.

I'm sure Max would have been proud of the reaction we got from those boys. I only glanced back to make sure Iggy had done what he was told, he did. And the look on their faces when they saw us close up in all our glory? Priceless. Jaws dropped and everything. Yeah, Max would have enjoyed every second of it. She probably would have swooped back down while they were gawking at us, snatched up the plane, and dropped it into the pond in the center of the park. Leaving us all feeling a lot better. But Max wasn't here. And I didn't care about those kids or their stupid plane. We were still a good eight hours from Arizona, and every passing second felt like a second closer to- to what I didn't know, but it had to be bad. I could just feel it.

We had wasted too much time messing with those kids and that plane and I was eager to get back to the mission at hand. Unfortunately my straight forward attitude combined with that unpleasant encounter and an unsatisfactory ending to a very chastising situation, put a huge damper on the chipper atmosphere we had going earlier. No one said so much as a single word until we reached the Colorado-Nebraska border.

* * *

This Max was dead. No. She was still very much alive. Breathing. Heart beating. But everything that made her who she was, was gone. I killed her. I crushed her spirits. I took everything that was ever important to her. I took her. I killed her. I broke her wings. I made her scream. And now. As I stand over her body one last time, I examine my work.

This last time. When I entered this room. When I forced her down. When I entered her. She did not put up a fight. I had broken her. My name would go down in history as the man who finally broke, Maximum Ride. Brought her down to the level she belonged. So My Max could finally be free. My Max would love me now. She has to. I did this for her.

This Max was nothing. She laid on the floor like a pile of dirt. Her body wracked in pain. Scarred inside and out. Wings mangled and broken. Not moving. I could see her ribs now. And her skin no longer had that healthy glow that sickened me to the core. Before I could not bare to look at her with out retching in disgust. Now I was proud. Proud of my work.

Her eyes were empty. Glazed over in pain. Staring at nothing. Any light that once resided in them long ago extinguished. She couldn't even muster the strength to keep from crying anymore. And when she looked at me I could only just barely see the hint of pain and fear. The only remaining emotion left in her. The drugs dulling that even more still. She couldn't move. She was ready.

There was still much work to be done on her before she was ready to sell. But my job was done. I can ship her now. Let them take care of the rest in Mexico. Then I'd have my money. I'd have my final revenge.

"Sir," The voice was familiar. I did not turn. The woman. My personal toy. By her own free will. She disgusted me. But she fulfilled my needs. "They're ready for them." Yes. At last. Max was not the only one for this shipment. No. I did much work besides her. I worked hardest on Max of course. And no other article got the pleasure of experiencing me like her. But she would not be the only one I ship. Two others. Yes. Two very pretty ones. Easier than Max was. They were ready long before now. But I held them off. I wanted Max to be with them.

"Clothe her. Shoot her up one last time. Make it a double dose, we must be extra cautious with this one." I told the woman. And she obeyed. She always obeyed. They always obeyed. They were pathetic. I looked at This Max one last time. Thought about keeping her for myself. But that was not my job. My job was done. I left her. And she could die. As soon as I got my money. She could die.

_

* * *

Them? _There were more of them? Had he been doing this to other girls? Not only had Fang, drugged, beat, and rape me, but he had done this to other girls. What happened? This wasn't the Fang I knew. Fang would never- _No, it hurts too much to think right now. _My head. It hurt so bad. It pounded inside my skull exploding behind my eyes. Just like when the voice first came to me. Where was the voice anyway? It just abandoned me.

I cringed as the pink haired woman from before dragged me to my feet. Pain erupted from every pore on my body and it all seemed to be centered around the un-ignorable throbbing between my legs. I could feel something sticky trickle down one of my legs. But I ignored it. I was too busy trying not to cry out as the woman carelessly moved my broken wings and battered body about. She forced my hands into the sleeves of a silky robe. The light material burned my skin which was covered in open sores.

I was given more drugs. The only relief to this pain. I found that with the nausea and fatigue came a wave of haziness that instantly lifted most of the pain. I depended on that now because it was my only escape. It was the only thing that made me feel even the tiniest bit better. I couldn't think about Fang like before, or my flock. Because Fang was the reason for all of this. And if the flock was even still alive, they obviously didn't care enough to stop him. I was alone and in pain and these drugs were the only thing keeping me alive, I think.

I was only barely coherent as they forced me out of that room. The only four walls I had seen in… how long has it been. I could feel myself growing distant already from the shot. I might as well have just given in and let them take me over. Why should I care where they were taking me? I had lost everything. I might as well give up. And yet something deep inside me… just needed to know. So I forced myself to stay conscious.

It didn't take long to get lost. I couldn't keep track of the rooms or the hallways. But I guess none of that was important. I wasn't going to be staying here any longer. That was why they were taking me out right? They were 'shipping' me somewhere. Then we were outside. Some instinct inside of me kicked in and I wanted to escape. But I quelled that urge immediately and settled for trying to figure out where I was.

It was dark, and hard to see. But it was easy to tell there was nothing here. Other than the building, and a long strip of concrete. There was a plane on it. We were heading right for it. It was a small plane, probably only a two passenger hold. And not in very good condition as far as planes go. The cargo gate was open and I was led up the ramp into the belly of this giant sardine can. Even after all the trauma, my ever persistent claustrophobia found its way to settle over me as the door slowly closed. But this was nothing new. I had seen it all before. Only before I had had my family. Now I was alone.

The plane took off then and I was tossed hard against the cold steel walls and floor. I gasped from the pain but it was drowned out by the roar of the engine. The bouncing and the change in air pressure made the nausea worsen and soon the plane's cargo hold was filled with the stench of my own vomit. As if things couldn't get any worse.

* * *

The plane was aloft for several hours I believe before I finally noticed I wasn't alone. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and the drugs were starting to wear off. Which meant the pain was back and I felt like my body was being torn to shreds with every little movement the plane made. But it also meant I could think a little more clearly, and it occurred to me that what I had thought to be merely more cargo amongst the crowded hold might actually be a person!

I blinked a few times and forced myself to sit up. Just then the plane gave a great lurch and I was thrown sideways. I caught myself just barely as pain jarred through me and I clenched my jaw biting down a scream. I opened my eyes again to find two pairs of eyes looking back at me. I felt my heart give a leap. _There _are_ more of them! _Sure enough, two girls about my age, maybe younger, were huddled together near the front of the plane.

"H-hello?" I called finding my much abused voice. I amaze myself sometimes. Here I was, sitting in my own blood and bile, weaker than a toothpick under a bus tire, mangled and probably in the worst shape I'd ever been in, trying to make contact with my fellow… prisoners. Who, might I add, were probably just as bad off as I was, in the very same position no less, scared to death, and with out a hope in the world.

They were small. One might have been a cherry blond originally, but it was hard to tell under all the dirt and grime. The other had black hair. Both of them with the most stunning blue eyes I had ever seen on a pair of cowering vulnerable young girls. And they both had on a similar silk robe to the one I had on. I tried to move toward them but stopped when I realized one of them wasn't even moving.

The cherry blond was lying her head resting in the lap of the other girl, her blue eyes wide and frozen, and her lips, just barely parted, and blue from lack of oxygen. Her body was limp, it didn't move at all, she wasn't breathing. She was dead. I bit back a startled yelp and scrambled backwards ignoring the pain. The other girl had been staring at me with a gaze just as intense as that of the dead girl's. But now she seemed to lose interest and she turned her head to stare into space. She was sitting up with the dead girl in her lap, just absently stroking her blond hair and staring at nothing. I watched her, my heart pounding. And when I listened very carefully I could hear her humming over the noise of the plane. I felt tears prick my eyes as I sat there watching and listening to her. Then she opened her mouth and formed the words to the song she had been humming. It wasn't English, and I didn't understand what it meant. But I would never, for the rest of my life, for get those words or her voice singing them.

"¿Me oyes? Estoy recibiendo a través de esta noche? ¿Puedes vernos? ¿Se puede hacer todo bien? Si hay Dios. ¿Pueden otorgar esta petición? Es todo lo que pido. De una chica que no pasó la prueba. ¿Se salvará? ¿Puedes llevarla de este dolor? Sé que son como todo el mundo. Miedo de enfrentar en esta vergüenza. Pero yo estoy aquí a Dios. Aunque me tomó mucho tiempo. Y estoy escuchando. Pero ella no puede soportarlo más. ¿Se puede salvarla? Oh Dios, por favor. Es sólo una pequeña petición. Desde. Me._"_

I didn't know what she was saying. But all the same I could feel the pain and the sadness in every word. I felt something hot and wet fall on my hand and I realized I had been crying. I raised the sleeve of my robe and wiped my eyes gently. I wanted nothing more then but to help that girl. Some how. If there was a way out, I'd find it. And I was taking her with me.

* * *

I had fallen asleep. Though I didn't believe it would have been possible, I know I was sound asleep when the door hanger opened and a bright hot sun bore in on us. I pried my eyes open just as two men walked up the ramp and blocked out the sun. I stayed motionless. I didn't move a muscle as they walked past me.

"Ugh, not again." One of them growled. "Another one, dead."

"Leave her. Get the other two and lets go already. We're wasting time." The other one said. Suddenly I was yanked to my feet. I couldn't help the yelp of pain I let out as they forced me up.

"Come one lets go, hurry it up!" the first man ordered as he pushed me and the other girl out and down the ramp. I blinked in the bright light and squinted to see where I was. Anything. But the land was barren for as far as even my trained eye could see. It was dry and dusty and it looked like we had landed on not a runway but the only strip of road for miles around. There was a lone building. It was small. If I didn't know better it looked like gas station. But the chipped and broken sign in the window said. "Mexico Trading Inc." Mexico! I was in Mexico! But then I realized knowing this, wasn't going to help me any.

So I let them lead me inside. It wasn't much cooler inside. Just as hot and humid and dusty as outside. Only it smelled like sweat and something rotten in here. I saw from a window there was a van out back with the company name printed on the side. The back was open and men were lifting heavy wooden crates into it.

"_This _is Kin's shipment?" I turned at the sound of the voice behind a desk near the door. An older man, mid sixties, whispy white hair, big round belly, was filling something out on a clipboard. "I swear they get shabbier every month." He shook his head with disappointment "Where's the third one?"

"Dead. Didn't survive the transfer." One of the men who had fetched me and the black haired girl answered.

"Very well. The boxes are labeled already pack them up and get them on that bus." The old man ordered.

_Boxes? _It was then I say the three girl sized crates in one corner of the tidy room. They were going to stuff us into a tiny box throw us into the back of a van and ship us off yet again! _Over my dead body._ I thought feeling a bit of the old fire spark in me again.

They went to put the other girl in a crate first. She was just as unhappy about it as I was and started to fuss, putting up a fight. That only made them push harder.

"Leave her alone!" I cried out with out thinking. Oh that made them stop alright. All eyes turned to me. The old man smirked.

"Looks like we got ourselves a live one here." He chuckled.

"Oh you bet I'm alive." I snarled growing more and more confident. "Alive and kicking." Then all hell broke loose. Sure, it felt like the world was crushing it's entire weight on me, every time I moved, sure I was beat to a bloody pulp, backed into a corner, weak and vulnerable, everything I hate. So what else is new? And besides, it's in situations like this that I'm at my most dangerous. Am I right? And even though I was well off my game, you can bet they weren't expecting me to fight back.

The first thing I did was throw a barefooted round house kick into the chest of the closest thug. I clenched my jaw tightly enduring the pain that shot up my leg into my spine and back again and fought hard to keep my balance. Weak as I was I'm still a genetically enhanced avian hybrid with the strength of twenty of full grown men. And even though only about five of those men were working right now, the kick was still powerful enough to knock my target back and off his feet.

The other one came at me next with the full intent of killing me. Or at least getting me that much closer to death and stuffing me in a box to be shipped off to god knows where for people to do god knows what to me so they could get their check. Yeah, fat chance. I held my breath as I swiveled and met the guy head on with nose breaking punch to the face. Bad idea on my part. I had succeeded in taking the guy out but in the process of doing so I had used my broken wrist. I gritted my teeth holding my hand close to me and fighting back tears. But I had to keep moving.

Two down, one to go. The guy I that just got his nose shoved up to his brain just so happened to have a gun on his waist. I snatched it up with out a second glance and aimed it at the old fat man behind the counter.

"We get off this freak show bandwagon here." I snarled.

* * *

**Okidoki! Until next time! lol, R&R pwease!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'd like to make a special shout out to Crazzy8855, Sunny_Cross, StandardAngel717, and Serenity. Jones who have been reading and reviewing from the very beginning and to almost every single chapter. I love you guys and you have no idea how much I look forward to your reviews!**

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Disclaimer: Duh.  
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Maybe it was the heat, the sun bearing down on us with its unforgiving wrath. It drained my body of every ounce of precious fluid I had in me. I was amazed at how much sweat was rolling off of me, drenching my skin in salty waves of perspiration. My mouth had long since dried up and my swollen tongue felt like sand paper, stuck to the roof of my mouth. My throat burned for the relief of something cool to drink, threatening to close up any moment if I didn't provide.

Perhaps it was the strain on my body. My wings were broken and they hung limply from my back beneath the smooth lacy fabric of the robe. The ends dragging on the hot dusty ground as I walked, making every step feel like my wings were being ripped from my back all over again, and again, and again. My legs felt like wet noodles. I don't know how long I went with out using them, then suddenly I kick and run and jump all in one day. It was a miracle they were keeping me up at all. Both of my arms had innumerable scrapes and bruises from the torture of my last couple of days, and my wrist, my broken wrist was healing all wrong. If I put any pressure on it at all it felt like it was breaking all over again. I had to bite my tongue, making it bleed, to keep from crying out whenever I accidentally brushed my hand against my side. And then there was the unbearable pain inside. Between my legs, but just a little higher. Every movement I made had me nearly doubling over. It- It felt like some one was scraping out my insides, little by little, with an ice cream scooper. And I know I was bleeding. I could feel it, slipping slowly down my inner thighs, crimson trails wrapping around my calf and drying on the curves of my ankle. And now the full effects of withdrawals were settling into my body. I felt myself tremble uncontrollably, feeling like the whole world was spinning, and my heart pounded furiously against every inch of my skin. But there was nothing I could do about it. About any of it.

Then again it could have been my own sick thoughts. Dark and twisted things that slithered into my mind. I tried to keep from remembering the events of my last few days. But trying only made it worse. I tried to forget about Fang, and only ended up thinking about him more and more. I saw his face, wherever I turned, no longer the handsome, gentle rock I once knew, but contorted and angry, and sick. Like when he was raping me. And I think about it and my stomach drops and churns inside me. All this pain, he did this to me. _How could that be?_ And when I ask this question I find my mind wandering through my memories of him, trying to pick out something I missed, something that led to this. But even my fondest memories of him seemed distant and long past. And they faded into what he had become to me now, I had to fight the waves of nausea like I was fighting for my life… He had always been there for me. Not just for me, but for the Flock. Oh god, the Flock. My babies. Their faces flashed before my eyes and not even I could keep the tears from spilling over. Little perfect Angel, adorable trooper Gazzy, perky lovable Nudge, sweet genius Iggy, even smart mouth Total. I had no idea where they were. Were they dead? Did they abandon me? Not knowing made everything seem so much worse. But I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Either way they were gone, and I couldn't help but feel it was my own fault.

"_¿Estás bien__?"_

"What?"

"_¿Qu_é_?"_

"Yeah."

Oh, of course it might have been that I was walking in circles in the middle of god forsaken nowhere (Aka: Mexico) with the girl I just busted my ass to save, who, get this, doesn't know a lick of English. Yeah, but that was more annoying than anything else. But I didn't really have the energy to get upset about it. Besides, it wasn't her fault. In fact if it wasn't for her I'd probably be stuffed inside a crate in the back of van on its way to the River Styx. I guess, the reason I was so determined to help her was because... When I saw her… I saw Ella. My sister. My baby half sister. I saw her with her big brown eyes and long dark hair and I saw Ella's eyes and Ella's hair and Ella's big wide grin, and that's what kept me going. Out of everything that was dragging me down, I looked at this poor girl, and I saw Ella in her situation, in my situation, and the fire ignited inside me and I pressed forward. Because even if I died, as long as this girl lived, everything would be o.k. If I saved her, then at least one good thing came from all this, and the world was just a tiny bit better, because of me. That was my job after all wasn't it? To save the world? Well right now… this girl _was _my world.

And quite possibly it was everything I just mentioned all mashed together like a ball of mud left out in the sun to dry and flake away in the wind. Awesome metaphor right? Cause that's how it felt. The heat, the pain, the nausea, the emotion, the stress, all rolled into one giant rain cloud slowing me down and dulling my senses until I could barely stand on my own two feet. And yet I kept walking. I didn't know where I was going. Away from _there_. North I think. I just kept walking, and the girl followed me faithfully, probably a bad idea, but she did anyway. Before too long I let my legs take me where they willed, not even paying attention to which direction I was going. It was like my body had a mind of its own, and I was on the outside, watching myself struggle.

_"Espere__." _Something in her voice told me to stop just then, and I turned to her. I stared at the girl. She looked as bad as I felt. Her long black hair tied up in knots, her arms all discolored with bruises, and her hands trembling, with fear, from withdrawals, maybe both. But deep within her dark dull eyes I could still see a small light. Probably the only thing that was keeping her alive. She trusted me, I saved her and now she had faith that I'd get us out of this mess, alive. She was so sure of me, while I stood there, dazed and confused, and doubting I would ever live up to what she saw in me. Fortune cookie nonsense would have been a big help just then, if not for their knack to annoy the crap out me and get my mind off my problems, but just for some kind of comfort that I wasn't alone. And I longed for the one thing I felt would right this mess I had made of myself. But the Voice was gone and even that small strand of foundation had been ripped from beneath my feet. How was I still standing?

"_Debemos resto." _If I could understand what she had just said I'm sure it would have become my voice of reason. But alas I was at a loss. I stood there and stared at her not understanding. She seemed just as troubled by the language barrier. She reached out for my right hand and took it in her left. The instant she touched it pain reeled up and through the muscles of my arm and this time I didn't have time to bite my tongue before the agony reached my vocal chords and I cried out pathetically. When I did the girl jumped, startled and dropped my hand and I cringed as I let it fall to my side.

"_Lo siento! Lo siento! ¿__Estás bien__?" _An apologetic look of concern on her face. The only indication of what her words meant.

"Yeah, I- I'm fine." I assured her giving her my best fake smile I could muster. As I expected, I'm sure she understood, but she looked skeptical. She looked down averting her eyes to the ground. There was a long awkward silence then. Neither of us felt the need to hurry on. We weren't in any immediate danger any way. No one had tried to follow us when we escaped the trading checkpoint, and since we left that place, half a day behind us, we had been following the only road within a fifty mile radius, and hadn't seen a single soul indicating life on this stupid planet other than ourselves. Finally she looked up at me again and I came back to her out of my train of thought

"_¿Cómo te llamas?" _It sounded like a question, but I had no idea what she was asking. I looked at her still confused. She looked back at me desperately trying to figure out how to communicate with me. She raised her hand to her chest. _"Mi nombre es Esperanza__" _She pointed to herself and repeated. _"Esperanza"_ Then she moved her hand in the space between us and pointed to me. I took a step back instinctively but she didn't seem to mind. _"Su nombre es...__" _She trailed off as if she wanted me to finish her sentence.

It took me a moment, but finally what she was trying to say to me registered. _My name! _She wanted to know my name! She had given me her name, Esperanza, and she wanted mine in return. I pointed to myself like she had and told her. "Max, my name is Max." I tried to recall what she had said to me in her language. "Su nombre es Max." for some reason this made the girl giggle.

_"Estoy encantado." _She replied with a small innocent smile that could light up a room. Here she was, in this hell of a situation and she was smiling. And behind that smile I knew there was pain, and yet her eyes were so deep with hope and some kind of unworldly wisdom. _"Gracias Max." _she whispered softly.

"You're welcome." I said softly back, out of no where. I guess it just felt like the right thing to say, and I guess she understood because nothing more was said. And then we kept walking, because there was nothing else to do but walk, hope, and pray we made it out of this, alive.

* * *

The dream was different from the other dreams. Before, everything felt so real, so vivid, like it was really happening right there in front of me. But not this one. The others seemed to have been a snapshot of certain period in time, just one event. But this one was different. Time passed like sand through a hour glass, each grain, each vision, a different event in time. The images I saw in my head were faded and fleeting, I only caught glimpses of things, things I was sure were important. A shadow here, a silk robe, a dark hallway that seemed more like a maze, some movement over there, a plane, the darkness, the pain and confusion. Then there was a girl, two girls, they had to be important. A-and then the sun, I think it was the sun. There was a building, a sign, a window, a truck, the heat, the stench, the fear. I saw a flash, a loud earsplitting crack, and then a road, a long endless road, and I was running, running for my life, with no where to go, on and on until it was dark, and everything was black. _Max!_

"Fang wake up!" the loud desperate voice shook me back to consciousness and I jumped with a start. I was already in a sitting position ;eaning against a tree. The back of my shirt was soaked through and sticky with my sweat and it stuck to the bark of the tree as I tried to sit forward. I could feel my hair plastered to my face and drenched with that same sweat. For some reason my heart was racing like mad and I was panting, my hands, trembling. I looked around to see the worried faces of the remaining four in my flock, all staring at me from the different angles of their various positions in the tree. Even the blind one had his fierce blue eyes glued to me. I quickly regained composure, evening out my breathing and slowing my pounding heart, I clenched my fists to keep them from shaking.

"What?" was my clever and endearing response.

"You were having another bad dream." Iggy informed me. Thank you captain obvious. I clenched my jaw and didn't reply.

"Was it about Max again?" Nudge asked fearfully. My eyes snapped up to her where she was sitting on a branch just above me. The sun was just barely peaking its way over the horizon and the warm colors of dawn provided just the right amount of light to see her clearly. The tainted light shadowed her already shadowy tan face making the worry look even deeper. How could I explain to them about my dreams? The nightmares I had been having the past four nights since Max's been gone. The ones that kept getting progressively worse up to now and then this one that made no sense at all. I couldn't even tell if this last one was even _about_ Max.

"I don't know." I answered truthfully averting my gaze to the thin line that separated the Earth from the sky. I had made a promise to Max before we left on this disastrous vacation that I'd take a break from my blog, and I left my laptop at Dr. Martinez's house. Now I wished more than anything I hadn't. At first I thought it was because I needed to get my mind off of her. My blog had always been the perfect escape, I didn't have to think about Max or how troublesome she was when I was blogging. Then I realized, not even my blog would help me in this situation. I needed to use it to get the word out to keep an eye out for her. I was never big on begging but I'd even consider an attempt to plead with my readers that if they saw her, to at least let us know she was alive. With over four billion viewers some one was bound to see her. In fact, that's exactly what I was going to do. As soon as we got back to Arizona, if Max wasn't there, and I had a growing suspicion she wouldn't be, I'd march straight on up to my room, open my computer, and send out a global warning. _Help Us Find Max!_

_Maybe you don't have to. Maybe you already know, exactly, where she is. _

My head snapped up from my daze. _What was that? _I turned to Angel on a branch next to me eyeing her suspiciously. _What do you mean by that? _I asked her. A confused expression spread across her innocent face then.

_What are you talking about? I didn't say anything. _She insisted. My eyes widened and it suddenly felt like the world was spinning, revolving around me in that one instant of realization. _Oh no. _I thought. _I'm going insane._

_You're not going insane, Fang._ Came the voice inside my head again. _Slow down, think about it. You already have all the information you need. It's time to use it. _

My heart began to pound inside my chest again. _What? _I asked as if I expected answer. When none came I felt desperate. "Wait! I don't understand! What the hell does that mean!?" All eyes widened and stared at me. _Crap, _I thought.

"Fang? Are you ok?" Gazzy asked cautiously. I closed my eyes trying to think. _What just happened to me? _It was like I was talking to myself, but the voice was not mine. It wasn't any voice that I recognized, and yet, it still seemed so familiar. My eyes snapped open and my mind suddenly reeled with a new revelation. Did _Max's _'Voice' just speak to me? That Voice inside her head that she's always talking to, the one that led us through the sewers of New York and around every disastrous corner since then? _That _Voice!?

_Now you're getting it. You know where Max is, Fang. Go to her. _

"Fang?" Nudge's voice called me back.

_Fang what's going on? _This time it was no mistake that was Angel talking in my mind. My head was starting to hurt with all the voices and information swirling inside my head. I rubbed my temples with my thumb and middle finger of my hand trying to ease the ache and sift through all the confusion. But it was no use.

"Stay here," I ordered climbing to my feet and letting my wings out. "I'll be back." And with out another word I jumped from the tree, pushing down hard with my wings and feeling them fill with air as I dropped a couple feet and then lifted up into the air, out of the trees. I knew they wouldn't follow me this time. I guess it was just that intuition Max always seemed to have as a leader, kicking in. They knew I needed to figure something out, and I knew they'd listen to me. It was a silent connection we all shared. Especially with Max. Now it was my turn.

I flew as high as I could over the small town on the border of Colorado and Nebraska. We had gotten this far, when the strain of everything became too much. And with out Max there to keep us moving, I had no choice but to give in and let us rest for the night, despite the urgent need in the pit of my stomach to keep flying. To find Max. I hadn't expected I'd get any sleep that night. Not that I wasn't used to sleeping in public parks in the branches of a shady tree. Can I get a big round of applause for those tree huggers? Where would bird kids like us be with out the trees to make our temporary home in? God, now I was even starting _sound _like Max.

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I needed to think.

What did the Voice, and I still find it creepy that the Voice had come to me, mean when it said I already knew where Max was? Obviously that couldn't be true or I'd be with her right now! Or at least on my way to her. How could I possibly know where she was?

The Voice said I already had all the information I need. _But how?_ What did I know so far?

Max was missing.

It was probably, no, it was undoubtedly my fault.

I'm going insane.

I had Max's _Voice _in my head, feeding me useless riddles, and then there were those horrible nightmares I keep ha-

The nightmares. Suddenly it hit me. The dreams I had been having, weren't just my paranoid subconscious getting the best of me, they were visions. Visions of Max. Of what she was doing, what was happening to her, and where she was.

"Oh my god." I mumbled out loud to myself. I suddenly felt very sick and I wavered a bit in my flight pattern, nearly falling right out of the clouds. I prayed with all my heart to whatever deity cared to listen at the moment, that my conclusion was wrong. But I knew deep down in my heart, and unfortunately my stomach, that I was right.

_No! _I thought my mind whirling as I forced myself to make an emergency landing on the roof of a nearby apartment complex. I stumbled clumsily down and lost my footing and fell hard to my hands and knees, not even bothering to pull my wings in. I just let the black feathers fall around me. I struggled to breathe, my body trembling as it felt like I was being kicked hard, over and over again in the stomach. I closed my eyes and fought the urge to retch what little food I had been forced to eat the night before. My head was spinning with this new realization and I could have sworn the world was coming to an end right then and there. I let myself empty the contents of my stomach and then collapsed to my side, breathing heavily, like I had just gotten the crap beat out of me.

"Fang!" came the cries of four extremely worried and frightened bird kids. Apparently my leaderly intuition was off a smidge and they had decided to follow me despite my orders. I knew they would. I forced myself back up lifting one knee up and draping my arm over it to rest while the other one was supporting my weight behind me. I was still breathing relatively hard when they all landed and swarmed around me. I pulled my wings in on some last attempt to stay in control of the situation and stared at the ground beneath me trying to gather my thoughts. But the ground seemed like it was miles away and my head was still spinning too fast to think straight.

_Calm down man, pull yourself together. _This time it was my own voice inside my head, mentally coaching myself like I was sure Max did on more than several occasions as desperate as this one.

"Fang for god sakes tell us what the hell is going on!" Iggy demanded, letting his fear of the situation take over and cloud the worry in his eyes. I did the first thing that came to mind. I reached up and gave him a good smack upside the head. To be honest I think it was more for myself than anything else.

"Don't curse. You know how Max feels about that." I reprimanded him uncharacteristically. Iggy seemed infuriated by this, but not because he was angry, because of something else, deeper, more personal, something guys don't usually talk about or admit to feeling.

"Look around you Fang! If you haven't noticed, Max, _isn't _here! She's gone! She's been missing for four whole days now while we sat around on our asses and did _nothing!_" He shouted at me and that same male automatic emotional defense mechanism that triggered him, started to settle over me. I glared up at him angrily.

"I said watch your mouth!" I growled in a threateningly low tone. Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge all seemed genuinely scared now and began to back away from the stand off forming between Iggy and I.

"Don't tell me what to do! You're _not_ Max and you never will be! Quit pretending something isn't wrong and find her already, damn it!" That was it. I snapped. Now I'm not usually one for losing my temper, I've been known to keep my cool in situations even Max herself struggled with. But with Max gone and me still trying to digest that the dreams of her being tortured, and beaten, drugged, and _rapped_, _actually _happened to her, while I sat around after watching it happen with my own two eyes and did _nothing, _Iggy's completely honest and one hundred percent words of truth being thrown at me like a slap in the face were the final straw. And that was quite possibly the longest statement I have ever said. I guess scary things like losing the woman you love really changes a guy.

I lunged at Iggy with out warning, my balled fist of fury catching him square in the jaw. There were gasps all around and I think I even hear Angel whimper. While Iggy was reeling back and then regaining his balance, I got to my feet and loomed over him, breathing heavily and glaring at him angrily. I watched Iggy rub his jaw then wipe away the blood that had trickled from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. Then he slowly got to his feet and faced me head on, his blind eyes searing into mine with all the hatred we both felt in that moment. He was only a couple centimeters taller than me but I was far from intimidated.

"That feel good Fang?" He asked and I couldn't help but catch the venom dripping from every word he spoke. "Got it out of your system yet?"

"Maybe." I growled back. Before I could think twice about how close I was to him he lashed out and returned my punch, his perfect almost scary aim hitting me in the nose. I stumbled back. One thing about Iggy, whether he was building a bomb or fighting a battle, he knew exactly how much power to pack and exactly where it should be focused to accomplish his goal. And he knew _exactly _which wires to cross to make his 'opponent' tick. So it didn't surprise me that he only hit me hard enough to cause minor pain and minimal bleeding. Though I'm sure he wanted to hit me harder, break my nose if he was really feeling it, but he didn't. And he knew if he could get me to say even one word he'd catch me off guard. And it just so happens I was off my game anyway. But all this didn't make a lick of difference to me. As soon as I had regained my footing I went back at him.

"Fang no!" I heard Angel cry desperately as Iggy and I started into a full blown fist fight. I caught him in the jaw again and he stumbled back a few feet before lowering his head and barreling into me knocking the air from my lungs and tackling me to the ground.

"Iggy stop! Stop Iggy this is stupid!" Gazzy yelled at him. But neither of us were listening. He had the upper hand now, straddling me and assaulting me with a series of well placed punches. But he was easy to throw off balance and I quickly had him flipped face first into the ground. I pressed the side of his face into the rough concrete with one hand pinning both his arms between his back and my legs.

"Give up?" I yelled at him and he snarled angrily in return.

"Never!" he spat and did something fancy with his legs throwing me off of him. I was on my feet immediately.

"Stop it!" the others were crying. By now Angel was in tears burying her face in Celeste's matted fur and Gazzy looked like he was about ready to jump into the fight himself. But it was Nudge that moved between us at the last second as Iggy got to his feet and used his momentum to clumsily throw another punch my direction. I saw where this was going right away.

"Iggy wait!" I shouted as Nudge raced in to stop the fighting. But Iggy couldn't stop now and his punch, which was supposed to land on my stomach, was poorly aimed and coming in way too high anyway, and it wasn't me who took the brunt of it. Nudge fell when Iggy's fist made contact with her shoulder, and her cry of pain mixed sickeningly with an all too familiar crack. Had he been aiming for a shoulder the punch would not have had the force it needed to knock the wind out of a large powerful bird kid like myself, but it did, and it hit Nudge hard. Everyone froze. Nudge fell and curled instinctively into a ball her good arm gripping her shoulder tightly and her face screwed up in pain.

"Nudge!" Gazzy and Angel cried out in unison and came rushing to her side. Iggy, having heard everything, from the sounds of Nudge's shuffling footsteps arriving to try and end our fight, to the bone rattling crack of her shoulder popping out of its place, to her cry of pain and the thud of her body hitting the ground, stood frozen and horrified. His trance only lasted a few moments before he was on his knees at her side, and so was I.

"Nudge! Oh god, Nudge I'm so sorry!" he said frantically. "I- I didn't mean to honest! I- I-"

"I know you didn't Iggy." Nudge said to him her voice strained as Angel and Gazzy helped her to sit up. She was a strong girl and already she had regained her composure. If this had been a fight for our lives, she wouldn't have needed Angel or Gazzy, she would have been on her feet again, ready to take on the next sorry ass who dared to challenge her. She gave him a weak encouraging smile that was lost on him, but the tone of her voice wasn't. "I'm fine." She insisted.

"This never would have happened in the first place if you and Fang hadn't started fighting!" Gazzy exclaimed balling his fists protectively. Iggy turned his face away from them and I could see how ashamed he was for not only hurting Nudge, but for fighting with me. I felt just as bad. Iggy hitting Nudge was just as much my fault as it was his. But none of this needed to be said. We all were thinking the same thoughts, and they all knew we were both sorry. What mattered now was helping Nudge.

"Here, " I muttered. "Let me see." I gently replaced her hand with my own on her shoulder and tried to move her arm. Right away when I touched it she cringed with the amount of pain that would make most girls her age cry. And I could feel from the movement of her shoulder, she had dislocated it.

"We're going to have to pop it back in place." I told her, though it wasn't necessary. We had all had similar injuries and Nudge knew what had to be done. Her good hand flashed out and grabbed Iggy's hand tightly as I positioned my own hands to relocate her shoulder. Iggy held her hand tightly. "You ready?" I asked, and before she even had a chance to nod in reply I pushed down on her shoulder and popped it back where it belonged.

Nudge gave a small cry to the pain clamping her eyes shut and the tightening her jaw while the pain slowly subsided. Iggy squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.

"Here," Angel said holding out her bear and the rope she had used to tie it around her waist. I nodded my thanks to her then gently placed the teddy bear under Nudge's arm and tied her arm securely against her body and across her abdomen so it would move too much. Then we all just kind of sat there, in silence. I could tell their minds were wandering, thinking about what had just happened and calculating what it meant, by the look in their eyes. I needed to tell them about Max. But it wasn't me who spoke up.

"Fang." Angel said quietly, breaking the silence. "You know where Max is, don't you." She stated more than asked. All eyes looked to me in surprise. I nodded.

"Yes…" I said and suddenly all those nasty feelings from before came flooding back. If I had ever found it hard to talk before, it was nothing compared to this. "I-" I didn't have any idea how to explain it to them.

_I'll tell you what I've always told Max… Start with the truth. _The Voice echoed in my head.

_Oh yeah right, I am _not _going to tell them I saw Max being- _I mentally stopped myself before it slipped out of my mind and into Angel's who was surely listening in to my thoughts. I heard a chuckle, or at least I think it was a chuckle, if it was even possible to chuckle in some one else's mind.

_You and Max are so alike. You were destined for each other. _I sighed inwardly at this. That was the last thing I wanted to hear right now. If I was so perfect for Max, then how come I sat back and watched her go through hell, and still did nothing to save her from it?

_You can't change the past, Fang. You can only do what you can to influence the future._ I was beginning to understand why Max was always so frustrated with this thing. It never said anything that made any sense at all!

"Fang?" Nudge's voice brought me back down from whatever cloud I had been floating on, the one that comes way before cloud nine. The one at the very bottom. I looked over to her. She looked back at me desperately. "Please," she begged. "Tell us what's going on."

I had to tell them. I couldn't keep them in the dark like this. It would only end up causing more fights. If we were going to find Max, we needed to pull together on this one, and stick together. Which was easier said than done, with out Max, most everything seemed to fall apart.

"The past four nights since Max left, I've been having visions of what she has been experiencing." I began. Every one but Angel's eyes widened at this.

"Are you saying you knew were Max was all along!?" Gazzy exclaimed jumping to his feet ready to start another fight. Iggy quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. "No," I said, then shook my head. "Yes… But I didn't realize that's what I was seeing until now." Nothing more needed to be explained. I didn't need to explain the details of what I saw and frankly, they didn't need to know. All _they_ needed to know was that _I _knew where she was now and that we were going after her.

"So…" Iggy trailed off. "Where is she?" he finished looking to me expectantly. I tried to call up my last dream. I had pieced together most of it the best I could. From what I had seen up till then she was being held somewhere cold, probably back in Minnesota. But this last dream showed her being transferred. She was moved somewhere much brighter and much warmer in climate, but at the same time so much darker. I recalled seeing a sign in the window of a building, and again on the side of a big white van.

"Mexico." I told them as I remembered the words. 'Mexico Trading Inc.' I don't think I wanted to know what it was they traded in that dirty, muggy place. I was afraid to find out, but I was certain I already knew.

"Mexico?" Nudge asked. I nodded.

"Max is in Mexico, and from what I can tell she was able to escape whoever it was that had her." Their eyes seemed to brighten at this. "But, if we don't find her soon, she'll die." And then came the bomb, every one was scared all over again.

"Well what the he-" Iggy cut himself off before he finished the word. "I- I mean, what are we waiting for? We need to go find Max. Like, now!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

* * *

**Ok a few quick comments before I leave ya to your reviewing. I think my spanish is a bit better in this chapter, it's not easy remembering the two years of spanish I got in ninth and tenth grade but I tried my best. Also, for those of you who understand spanish and its possessional rules I'm sure that the reason Esperanza found it so humorous when Max tried to speak spanish was very clear. For those of you who didn't get that one I'll try to explain it. In spanish Me, Mi, and Yo all mean me, my, and I, self possession worlds. Te, Tu, and Sus all virtually mean You and yours. The same goes for esta and es they both mean is but es is used with self possession words and esta is used for you words. So when Max tried to say her name was Max, she was really saying, _your _name is Max. Fortunately Esperanza understood what she was trying to say and found it to be a very valiant effort to communicate in her language. Hope that clears it up for you, and for those of you who don't bother to read the A/Ns at the beginning and end of the story I guess you'll just have to figure it out for yourselves. Now, on your mark.... Get set.... REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, yada yada yada, aaannnddd.... Action!  
**

* * *

"You better just stay the hell away from me."

I was standing, my heart pounding wildly in my chest, staring down the barrel of a small hand gun, scared out of my mind! Her finger clenched the trigger tightly as she held it up with both hands, aiming it at my face. It seemed the effort was difficult for her. Her hands were trembling severely making the gun click and clatter as she struggled to keep her arms up high enough to make her shot. I saw her arms. Her pale skin was almost impossible to see beneath the disturbing mesh of green and purple bruises.

I saw how much pain her body was in. Her legs were barely holding her weight; she looked like she was ready to collapse any second. She had only a leather belt strapped around her waist beneath a white silk robe that floated just barely above her thighs. Had it been any shorter it could have passed as a shirt. Her right wrist looked all misshapen and inflamed, angry swelling told me it must be broken. I saw the pain and suddenly fear for my life was the last thing on my mind. It was my fault she was like this.

But I knew her. I knew her almost as well as I knew myself. And I knew how she felt about guns. She hated guns; she didn't like them, never used them, and she never allowed any of the kids to go anywhere near them. She had always relied on her own strength and skill to get us out of a tight spot; she just had too much respect for herself and for her family to hide behind a weapon. And she was proud of it. It was one of the things I admired most about her. It was one of the things she admired most about herself.

So I knew she _must _be desperate; to be carrying one around with her and then to turn it on me? She had to have been pushed so far over the edge that she felt she had no other choice…. So why doesn't that make me feel any better about facing her with a loaded gun between us?

If this was still her, if this was still the woman I knew, she wouldn't shoot. She might be desperate enough to threaten to, but she wouldn't shoot… _Would she?_ Maybe that's just it. Maybe because she was in such a state of mind, maybe she _would _shoot. Could I take that risk? Call her bluff?

_Guh, I'm just going in circles!_ _I can't imagine what she's thinking! _I stared into her intense, hate filled eyes and I felt like my world was coming to and end, seeing her look at me like that. I studied her body movements with just a flicker of glances, I caught everything. I felt so guilty for letting this happen to her… and so angry. I had to do something. I had to make it right. It may have been a mistake to try and reach her, but it was a risk I was _willing _to take.

* * *

I was so weak. So damn weak, it only made me angrier. But despite how badly my body was shaking, and the screaming pain in my wrist, arms, legs, and through out my entire being, and despite how hard it was to stay conscious, I held firm. No longer afraid of him, I was the one shoving the gun up his nose after all; I was ready to unleash all of my hate. I watched his eyes flicker over my body. Disgusting pervert! He was probably thinking about how he would _punish _me for this… Well he wouldn't live long enough to get that chance.

He didn't move. I had given him his warning, if he didn't back off he'd be eating lead for dinner. And yet he didn't step back or waver in any way. He just stared at me. My stomach started to churn and I felt my skin burn with his eyes on me. I was contemplating killing him weather he backed off or not. But something held me back.

Part of me was screaming at myself to just put the sick bastard out of our misery already. He didn't deserve to live. Not after what he did to me, not after what he did to _us. _I hated him, every second we stared at each other my hatred for him swelled, and I screamed louder. _Kill him! Kill him before he does it again, to some other poor innocent girl! _And my finger tightened on the trigger again.

Then, I look at him, and as much as I hate him now… I loved him that much more once upon a time. While part of me is telling me to shoot, the other part of me, told me this couldn't be right. I knew him. Or at least I thought I knew him. But maybe I don't anymore. The man _I_ knew would never have done this to me. Logic started to sink in. The man I knew loved me so much, that he refused to defile me… even when I asked for it. He had stopped us. Even though he wanted it just as much as I did. He didn't give in to temptation. I let my finger relax off the trigger.

And just as I'm ready to let myself be talked out of hurting him, just as I'm about to lower the gun, and soften my gaze, just as I'm about to second guess that it was even him who hurt me in the first place… I look again. And I see the man I _thought _I knew, looming over me, and forcing himself inside of me, over and over again and again. And I remember the pain, and I see his face and he is the source of that pain. My eyes never leave his, and the gun never falls. Believe it or not, I know what I saw and what I felt, and I saw him, and I felt him, and I. Will. Kill him. I put the pressure back on to the trigger of the gun. _Go on, give me a reason to shoot you.

* * *

_

I was scared. I was so so so so scared. I felt myself trembling lightly making my shoulder burn like fire, but I didn't care. I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen her like this. So small and frail looking, it totally looked like, if she shook any harder she would like, shatter into a million and one pieces or something. And the cold steel in her eyes, as she stood no more than ten feet away with her arms extended, clutching the gun so tightly her knuckles were turning white, aiming it at him with the full intention of blowing his face off (uhg, that sounds so graphic), it was enough to make even the toughest of beasts melt with fear. And I have _never, _never ever, ever, ever, ever never, never _ever _seen her act so coldly toward us.

And he just stood there! Like this was the most natural thing in the world! He was completely calm, almost serene, just staring at her with his emotionless eyes, his face hard as a stone. Like- like he _expected _her to do this! While I was sure the look of horror was far from hidden on my face.

* * *

Everyone was deathly silent. The only sound I heard was their breathing. Nobody expected this, especially not me. I couldn't see it but I knew she had a gun, and from the way I felt him stiffen beside me a moment ago, I knew she had it pointed at him. I listened to her struggle to hold on to it, her breaths were labored and I could feel her trembling even from this distance. What the hell happened to her to make her snap like this?

I felt him move beside me, taking a step forward. Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin when the sound of her clicking off the safety replied. We held our breaths.

"I said stay away from me!" She shouted loudly. I flinched. She sounded so angry, so hurt and scared; it almost made her voice painful to hear. It gave me the kind of reaction you get to nails on a chalk board. He made an attempt to reach her.

"Max-" BAM! Almost immediately, the sound of the gun releasing the bullet from its chambers, had a deafening effect to our ears. She had pulled the trigger.

"Fang!"

* * *

"Fang!" he shouted, hearing the shot. I jumped when the gun rang out, jolted and shocked, but I quickly pulled myself back together.

_It's ok. _I assured him. _She didn't shoot him. _She had lifted the gun above her head with one hand and let off a round into the sky, now it was back down, pointing at his chest.

"I swear to god-" Was that a crack in her voice? She swallowed hard, still shaking uncontrollably. Just moments ago, before he tried to take a step forward, reaching out for the gun and saying her name, she had the look of murderous hatred in her eyes. Towards _him, _him of all the people to hate in her life… Why did she hate him? Now her eyes had darkened with a deep fear. "I swear to god… I'll kill you." Her voice was quivering now. That didn't sound like her at all! What was she so afraid of?

_Getting anything? _I was really good at concentrating on more than one person, and I didn't miss his question. Nothing he was thinking slipped past me. I knew the others thought he was all calm and stoic at the moment, but inside, his thoughts raced and he felt like panic. I visibly shook my head.

_No. _I responded. I couldn't get anything from her, and I couldn't get any of my thoughts through to her. She was blocking me out. But I don't think it was on purpose. It was like, to her, we weren't even there. All she saw was him. But not in the sweet romantic way I'd expected when we found her. I tried the girl that was with her. But her thoughts were in Spanish. I couldn't make any sense of them. All I knew was she was just as scared as the rest of us.

* * *

The tension was almost too much to bear. When she fired that gun, I felt the vibrations of the explosion roll through my body. But it didn't feel at all like the thrill I get from the aftershock of a well made bomb. It was scary. Because her intention was directed at us. Or rather, at him.

He remained still, and as calm as ever. It amazed me how well he kept himself together in the face of death. The only reason _I_ wasn't making any attempt to run was cause I was so shocked by her actions that I couldn't move.

He continued to move toward her now, his hand, reaching for hers to take the gun. He took only a small step, and he went very slowly. He kept his eyes locked on her, cold and determined. I even caught the bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his face as he made another attempt to step forward.

Her eyes darted to his outstretched hand. Then snapped back up at him as he took another small step, slowly making his way toward her. She was still shaking uncontrollably. She looked so scared and her wide eyes kept shifting between him and his hand. She was fighting herself on whether or not to shoot, whether or not she actually had the guts to kill him. Then the look changed in her eyes. I felt my heart drop clear down into my stomach.

* * *

He was about six feet away from us and leaning forward to take the gun, when she tightened her grip. She squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced. She turned her face away as her finger tightened on the trigger. He only had a split second to realize she was really going to do it. I saw the flash of fear and pain in his eyes just before the shot rang out. One. Twice. He went down with the third one.

* * *

_Three minutes earlier…_

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Gazzy asked. I couldn't blame him for doubting me. After all, my directions to finding Max were a couple of disturbing dreams, a voice in my head, and a gut instinct to follow this road. And we had been following it, for almost three hours now. It was a paved, two lane road that ran straight through Mexico. On and on and on. In the middle of nowhere! We hadn't seen a single soul for almost two hours now! I think even I was beginning to doubt I knew where I was going.

_You'll find her. _I didn't even flinch when I heard Angel's voice in my head. I was used to it by now. Over the past twelve hours I have had a verbal falling out with my knew friend who invaded my brain, beaten myself up mentally for letting this whole thing happen to begin with, listened to Angel scold me for blaming myself, argued with that stupid Voice over the true meaning of world peace, walked myself through what I was going to say to Max when I found her, and let Angel do what she was doing right now. She was trying to comfort me, giving me words of encouragement because she thought I needed them. _You do need them Fang. This is hard for all of us, especially you._

_You have no idea. _I thought. _Just, keep your eyes peeled._ I was focused on the road below us. In my dream I saw that very same road stretched out before me for miles on end. I knew Max had to be following it. She had to be heading north too, that was only logical. Civilization was north, Arizona was north, heck just about everything was north. We were flying over the same road she was on, traveling south. If she was in the air we'd run into her eventually. But I had a strange suspicion she wasn't flying. I kept my eyes scanning the empty road desperately. Because if she was on the ground, that meant she had been walking for the past twelve hours or more, and the chances of us finding her dead body were growing every minute.

* * *

_Ten minutes earlier… (Thirteen minutes all together)_

She had collapsed. She couldn't go any farther. We had gone two days, following this damn road for miles with no food, no water, and feeling like crap. I was so thirsty, my body so dehydrated, that my lips had shriveled up and cracked and were bleeding, my tongue was so swollen I could hardly breathe! I hadn't eaten for days. Nothing new there. But with my body in this condition, hunger pangs felt like my insides were being dissolved little by little with acid. I'm sure Esperanza was experiencing much of the same thing. It was more than _my _body could handle, yet she, this frail petite little innocent child, had been able to follow me all this way. Even when I was ready to give up, she was still right behind me, and I knew I had to keep going. Now it seemed, neither of us could go on. We couldn't make it.

I stopped when I heard her body hit the ground. I knew she was down, I didn't even have to look back. Suddenly I couldn't take another step. I slowly turned around to face her body, lying on her side, exhausted and near death, there on the ground. I hit my knees because my feet just wouldn't move. I used the last of my strength to crawl my way back to her and collapse at her side. Her breathing was shallow and that tiny bit of light from her eyes was gone. Yet it still felt like she hadn't given up hope.

"_Lo siento, Max ... sólo necesito ... a tomar un poco de descanso ..." _She whispered hoarsely. Every word took a great deal of effort to mutter and she had to take gasping breaths between every few syllables. I gave her a weak smile and nodded, reaching out and taking her hand in mine. I might not have understood her words… but I knew what she was saying. She was dying. We both were dying. But she still hadn't given up on me, and I hadn't given up on her.

"Just for a few minutes…" I croaked to her having a little more control over my voice than she did. "then we'll keep going…" She nodded her head closing her eyes softly. When she opened them again she only managed to open them half way. She looked at me and she knew I was lying, but we let ourselves believe that lie. "Don't worry Esperanza…" I barely managed to breathe to her through the dry tears in my eyes. "I'll get you home… I promise…" I felt her squeeze my hand lightly and then watched her slowly fade away into unconsciousness. She was still breathing, but it wouldn't be long for both of us now.

Soon I couldn't fight to keep my eyes open any more, I was just so darn tired. I slowly closed my eyes and let myself slip away to join my new friend. The last thing I saw before the blackness seeped into my mind, was my family, smiling and happy, and safe. All of them, including Fang, and Jeb, maybe… maybe I _was _too hard on him… He says it was all for the best… And he is my father after all… I wish more than anything now… That I had just given him another chance… I wish I had forgiven him… I wish I could have let myself love him again… And I wished Fang still loved me… wish I hadn'tve hurt him so much… wish I would have stayed with him… then maybe… none of this would have ever happened… maybe… maybe I just…… maybe I died….. for nothing………

* * *

"Max!" I heard their voices, but it sounded so distant. Where was it coming from? Were they voices, calling me to the other side? To death? Wasn't there supposed to be a tunnel with a bright heavenly light at the end of it? Was I supposed to be shaking so hard?

"Max! Max listen to me, open your eyes damn it!" It was just one voice this time, but it was closer. I realized I wasn't shaking but I was in fact, being shook. "Don't you dare die on me, Maximum Ride. So help me god I swear I will bring you back to life and kill you myself… Max!" There was the sound of children, crying. Why? Why were they crying? They were crying and yelling my name, then crying some more.

"Iggy, get the girl. We have to get them back to Dr. Martinez." that male voice ordered.

"But Fang!" This voice was softer in tone but louder and desperate and strained with tears. "It took us three hours to get here from the border! We'll never make it in time!"

"We have to try." The male voice growled. Then suddenly, things started to click. The fog lifted and everything fired all at once. Fang! He found us! He found out we escaped and he came and he found us! _No!_ I was not going to let this happen. Not to me, and especially not to Esperanza. As soon as I felt my body being shifted and lifted into strong familiar arms, I felt feeling flowing back through my limbs. It hurt like hell but I could ignore it. I tested my fingers wiggling them slowly so not to be seen. I could move.

"You… Bastard…" was the first thing I spat. Woops, gone and blown my cover now haven't I? Silly me, guess it's now or never. Slowly I pried my eyes open. Sun beat down into my tired eyes and it was hard to adjust them. My vision was blurry for a few moments before I could finally make out his face leaning over me with a look of concern. I was infuriated.

"Max?" I saw the look of relief and it only made me want to kill him more. He had no right to be concerned, or relieved. This was all _his _fault. And I would make sure he would pay.

"You sick… Bastard…" I spat again more fervently. A look of confusion and worry crossed over him. Every look he gave me only made me angrier. Fueled my hatred and made my blood boil, warming my body again. I used what little strength I had to push him away from me and slowly stagger to my feet. Strangely he let me. My hand was inching toward the gun I had strapped to my side with the belt of that chubby old man back at the trading outpost. He didn't need it anymore anyway.

Fang slowly stood looking at me strangely. I tried to take a step back but I tripped over something immediately and fell flat on my ass. I looked down under my feet at Esperanza who was beginning to stir. She was still alive! Fang took a step forward reaching for me. But in an instant I had the gun in my hand and I pointed it straight at him. As expected, he froze.

"Hey Es? Can you hear me?" I said getting some of my strength back as I stared at Fang intently with narrowed eyes. I scooted back ignoring the pain in my wrist as I used my free hand to get off of Es, as I had resorted to calling her, and carefully climb back up to my feet. My gun, still pointed at Fang. His eyes followed me carefully. There was no emotion now on his face and I was sure it mirrored my own. Neither of us broke our eyes away from each other as Es slowly came back to consciousness. She groaned. "Es, get up!" I ordered in a no nonsense tone. If she was still alive and strong enough to survive just a little bit longer, then she could get to her feet.

Sure enough, Es was coherent. She understood the urgency in my voice and she began to move. It was a slow painful process and Fang and I stayed locked on each other the whole time. Esperanza shifted, pulling her arm beneath her and rolling over it to get to her stomach where she could successfully push herself up. On her feet now she was in the way of my gun and in reaching distance of Fang. Quickly I pulled her back with me a few feet and we stumbled back together until I had put a safe amount of distance between us and _him. _

Es was more alert now, and she was frightened. I could feel it. She shivered and looked at Fang over my shoulder, hiding behind me. I protected her with my body putting myself between the man who did this to us and her small terrified form. _"Esperar Max, yo no creo que eso es Kin! Él tiene hijos con él. ¿No ves? Creo que está tratando de ayudar a nosotros! " _I ignored her rant, not willing to take the time to try and understand her.

"What are you doing?" Fang asked cautiously. By now my hand was shaking and I was having a hard time keeping my aim steady. I lifted my other hand and gripped the gun with both. It didn't help much.

"You better just stay the hell away from me!"

* * *

There was a scream. Angel's earsplitting scream. Pain shot through my body piercing me to the core, not once, but twice. The third time I couldn't feel it because my body had gone into shock, either that or there was just too much pain to have felt anymore. I fell with the third shot.

We were so close when she fired that gun that I was amazed the impact didn't send me flying backwards to begin with. I took a step back with each shot and with the third I hit my knees. Now I was on the ground, Angel was screaming, I was sure the others had screamed my name. But I couldn't hear them. And Max. Max was standing over me with the gun still in her hand staring wide eyed and shocked, past me, and at the rest of the Flock.

I clenched my shoulder where the bullets had entered my body and blood was blossoming and soaking through my shirt, faster and faster. Thank god Max had such bad aim. I know she had intended to kill me. I saw it in her eyes. But she had always had poor aim, and that combined with how unsteady she was at the moment, had saved my life.

Now she was staring at the Flock, Angel's scream having finally opened her eyes to them. Iggy was running at her now. She slowly looked down at me in horror. She knew now… what she had done. The gun slipped from her hand and she stumbled, struggling to stay up.

"Igs! Catch her!" I ordered milliseconds before Iggy got to her. The girl we found with Max reached out and caught Max's limp unconscious body as she fell, and Iggy caught both of them before the girl collapsed under Max's weight. The others were with me in a moment.

"Oh my god Fang are you ok? I thought Max had shot you for sure!" Nudge said all at once.

"She did." I grunted. I didn't dare remove my hand from the bleed, I kept as much pressure on it as I could. The bullets hadn't gone all the way through and were lodged deep in my body. _Not good, not good, not good. _I thought frantically trying to figure out what to do.

_Max's belt. _The Voice said. Ah! The belt! I had caught a glimpse of what Max had used to hold the gun as she reached to grab it. The belt would work perfect!

"Iggy, there's a belt around Max's waist under her robe. Get it." I ordered. Quickly with out a word Iggy removed the belt and tossed it to me with perfect aim. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch it. Fortunately, Gazzy could. Gazzy caught the belt for me and turned to me for what to do.

"I'll need your help Gaz," Gazzy nodded, he looked scared but at the same time determined to do his part. "wrap the belt around my chest, above my heart, pull it as tight as you can." I lifted my arms for Gazzy to do just that and blood seeped through my fingers rapidly. He looped the belt together and pulled as hard as he could. I grunted as the air in my lungs was forced through my nose. Nudge, with her good arm, helped him to make the belt secure. That would help slow the blood flow to my arm. Angel tore some fabric from her lacy pink tutu and we used that to wrap around the wound, pulling it as tightly as possible as well. It hurt like hell but it would have to do until we got Max to Dr. Martinez.

_No Fang, take her to the hospital in Phoenix. You both need medical attention that Valencia can't provide._ I shuddered. I hated hospitals. Too closely related to a lab and they smelled like death. We all hate hospitals, and labs, and any room that was smaller than are wingspans both ways. _Max will die… and so will you. _

"Iggy, can you carry the girl?" I asked. The girl looked up startled. She moved away trying to pull Max with her when Iggy went to reach for her. Iggy turned his eyes to me helplessly as he held Max to him tightly. I grumbled irritably. This was such a pain. Nudge went over to them. She knelt down near the girl who couldn't be more than a year or two older than her and smiled encouragingly.

"We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help." She insisted. But the girl didn't seem to understand.

"She doesn't speak English." Angel piped up. Oh, _now _she tells us. _Crap, Now what? _Max was running out of time, and we couldn't just leave this girl out here in the middle of no where to die. She already looked like she wouldn't make it much longer than Max, if that.

"Iggy, bring Max to me." I said. I got to my feet as Iggy broke Max away from the girl and brought her to me. It was hard and it hurt but I managed to lift Max into my arms and hold her close. The moment her body was against mine I felt a tidal wave of relief wash over me like a flood. It was automatic, I looked down at her face. I relished in her warmth and felt my heart beat with hers. She was alive, she was safe, and I had her back. That was all that mattered. I would protect her with my life, and I would do whatever it took to make sure she lived. If that meant taking her to the hospital, that's what I would do. Suddenly, trying to coax this girl to come with us didn't seem like such a big deal. We could do this. We could save them.

"Me- me nombre es… E-Esperanza." Every one snapped their heads up to look at the girl who finally spoke, she had come closer to us now and stood right next to Iggy and in front of me. She was staring at me and Max. She looked so small and fragile, and she was scared. I didn't blame her, after this whole ordeal, she was probably terrified of us. She trusted us enough to speak. Now the problem was trying to understand her. She looked at Iggy who was looking back at her, but not quite. She waved her hand in front of his face and when he didn't respond she pulled away suddenly hesitant again. We all stared at her, not sure what to do, as precious seconds slipped away. Seconds that could mean the difference between a cheery welcome home party and a funeral. (actually come to think of it, neither sound very good right now)

"Me nombre es Esperanza." She spoke again. We looked at her still confused. She reached out tentatively and touched Iggy's arm. "Iggy." She said. She looked at all of us. Nope, still nothing. She pointed at the Gasman. "Gaz." What? Ok that didn't make any sense. The look in her eyes turned desperate. We couldn't understand her and she needed us to know something. She pointed at me. "Fang." She pointed at Max. "Max." she pointed at herself again. "Esperanza." She said in rapid succession.

Gazzy snapped his fingers. "That's it! Her name! Her name is Esperanza!" He said excitedly and proud of himself for figuring it out. I sighed. Ok great, this is good, now we knew her name and we could stop calling her girl. But that wasn't going to get us into the air any faster.

_Wait a minute Fang, maybe it will. _Angel stepped forward. "Esperanza?" Esperanza looked down at her. Angel put her hand on me, and another hand on Max. "Fang and Max." she pointed to the bruises on Max's arms and the blood on my shoulder. "They're hurt… And so are you." She went over and took Esperanza's hand. Esperanza stared into Angel's eyes for the longest time and I couldn't tell if Angel was trying to communicate telepathically or what, but finally, the girl nodded. She seemed to understand!

"Ok," Angel said out loud. "I think she'll let us take her with us now." She _thinks? _So I guess the language barrier was a challenge for Angel too. Iggy held out his arms for Esperanza and sure enough, she went into them. Iggy gently lifted her up into his arms, and she got herself comfortable. Then we all snapped out our wings. Startled, the girl tried to squirm out of Iggy's arms again, but it was too late, we were in the air before you could say 'Akunamatata'.

* * *

After we took off and were soaring high up in the sky again, it took Iggy several minutes to get Esperanza to calm down. He struggled with her and her squirming, his face hard with concentration so as not to drop her, and tried to comfort her with soothing words she didn't understand. It took Iggy almost dropping her and her realizing that she was indeed eight hundred feet in the air before she finally clamped down on Iggy and refused to move a muscle. Soon after that she fell asleep, or unconscious, one of the two.

We flew head on with out much incident, straight through the rest of the day and into the night. No one spoke, we were all too focused and determined to get to Arizona as fast as possible. Max and Esperanza's lives depended on it. I was continuously checking to make sure Max was still breathing. I was worried she'd slip away and I wouldn't even notice. So much so that I hadn't noticed anything else. Until I realized there was blood on my arm. Blood, on the arm, that wasn't supposed to have blood on it.

The forearm of the arm I had tucked under Max's legs was moist and sticky. Not a good sign. I knew it wasn't sweat, whatever it was, was thinker than that. I cringed, shifting Max into my bad arm so I could try and examine where I could be hurt. But there was nothing. I repositioned Max draping her long legs over my arms again. Then it hit me. I looked down at Max's white robe. Only, it wasn't white anymore. A red rose of blood had blossomed on the fabric between her legs. It was Max that was bleeding!

At first I was really actually grossed out thinking Max was on her period. I shuddered and tried not to gag at the thought of her period blood on my arm. Then I stopped to think for a moment. No… I knew Max. I knew when she was PMSing and I had a pretty good judgment of when she would start every month. Which was two weeks ago. This blood… wasn't natural. It wasn't supposed to be there. _Oh god. _I had forgotten all about that third dream till now. I had tried to push all thoughts about it out of my mind, and then when we found Max I didn't have time to think about it. Now it came back to me. Max was raped. Probably more than once. She was bleeding out! _No, no, no! _That meant we could lose her sooner than I thought! Who knew how much blood she had already lost. And she was losing a lot now! I-

"Fang." Gazzy broke me from my from my state of silent and unseen panic as he flew up from under me. I gave him a glance to let him know I was listening, or at least half listening. "Haven't you noticed anything uh- strange… about Max's wings?" he asked. What? Her wings? Come to think of it, it was kinda odd that she had her wings hanging so limply instead of tucked against her back. Even if she was unconscious her wings should have been able to stay put. But instead I found myself struggling every so often to find a good hold on her, trying to get past her unfolded wings with much difficulty.

"It's just…" Gazzy went on. "She had them out the entire time, she never once pulled them in, even when she was awake but… she never held them up either, they were always limp behind her." He pointed out, he hesitated and I could tell he wanted to say more but didn't know how to put it. "And…" _and? _What _else _could possibly go wrong here!? "Her feathers, they're all wrong."

"What?" _Her feathers were all wrong? _One thing we bird kids have to be extremely cautious about is our feathers. If we lose too many or if something isn't right about them, we wouldn't be able to fly. If Gazzy says that Max's feathers were all wrong, that meant she wouldn't ever be able to fly again. That couldn't be right, he had to be seeing things. "How would you be able to tell in this lighting? I'm sure your just being a little paranoid."

"No Fang, I know what I saw." Gazzy protested. "Her feathers are too short, and irregular in some places, like- like some one took a weed wacker to them or something." Suddenly dream number two came flooding back to me. They clipped her wings! Silent panic started to erupt inside of me again and I was grateful that Angel was too busy with Iggy and Esperanza far below us, to here my thoughts.

"I know…" I said and even I was amazed at how calm I sounded. Years of being the strong and silent guy really pays off.

"You do?" Gazzy asked confused. "But didn't you just say-"

"It was one of the visions I had." I explained. "You're right Gazzy, Max's feathers are all wrong. They're too short and they're misshaped because... whoever had her-"

"I get it." Gazzy interrupted me. "You don't have to say it… I know what happened." He mumbled. I dared to sneak a glance at him. He was silent. And his eyes were sad and he looked very much in pain. I clenched my jaw hard and focused straight ahead again. I had to force myself not to think about it. I couldn't think about all the things they did to her, I had to make sure she lived. If I let myself dwell on it right now, I'd end up blind with rage. That wouldn't help the situation any. I focused all of my energy on flying. I had to get Max to the hospital before it was too late. I just had to.

* * *

**Ok, well there it is. There really isn't much more I can say other than, PLEASE review! You have no idea how nervous I am about this chapter, and even if you don't usually review, please consider it just this once! I would be forever grateful. Thanks, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**LOL (Lots of Love)**

**Flock-Member7  
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	8. Chapter 8

**Alright, big news for you guys. I'm sure by now you've all noticed that I've changed the name and description of 'The Untold Story' to 'Burning Bridges in Hell'. I'm sure you'll agree that the previous title really didn't fit the story very well so I renamed it. I'm terribly sorry if there's been any confusion but rest assured this is still the same story as 'The Untold Story'. I went back and edited chapter one a tiny bit in Max's summary and I added my own longer summary. I'll post it on this chapter too so my older readers don't have to go back to chapter one to read it. Later after I'm confident every one understands the name change I'll remove xXThe Untold StoryXx from the title and it'll just be 'Burning Bridges in Hell'. Same story, same concept, new name. That's it. Ok now here's the story and the summary.**

**Summary: On vacation to Minnesota the Flock break into a lake cabin to spend the week. After coming very close to doing something they knew they shouldn't do Fang and Max get into a fight and Max takes off. Only problem is... she never comes back. They finally find Max only to realize she was kidnapped, raped, and beaten, and near death. Little by little the flock starts to fall apart, getting into fights with each other and crying themselves to sleep at night. Fang does everything in his power to save Max, but when she wakes up and she doesn't want anything to do with him, he finds himself brokenhearted. Now Max is determined to bring the man who hurt her to justice and save other girls from what she had to go through, only to find out what she had thought to be a small operation of sex trading, goes deeper into hell then she could have ever imagined. Willing to sacrifice her body, soul, and life to end the nightmare of human trafficking, she winds up burning more bridges than she bargained for when Fang walks out taking the kids with him and falls into the clutches of evil. Now faced with the greatest decision of her life Max has to chose who to save, her family, or the hundreds of women and teenaged girls already forced into slavery. It's enough to drive a girl insane.**

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Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep writing this? It's getting tiresome. We all know I don't own Maximum Ride, this is Fanfiction for crying out loud, if you're really going to sue me for not putting a disclaimer on every chapter, then you need to grow some brains because that's plain dumb.  
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* * *

How could I let this happen to her? _She was so pale, and she looked so cold and lifeless. _This is all my fault. _I pressed my hand palm up against the window to the room she was in. They were wiring her up like a freaking Christmas tee, connecting all these different beeping and flashing machines to her body. They ran around the room like chickens with their heads cut off, desperately trying to save her. _Please,_ I begged her silently. _Don't die. _But, it was so loud behind the glass. I couldn't reach her, and it was too loud. I knew from experience, loud in a hospital was bad. The monitors were blaring out of control and the doctors in their sickening familiar white coats were shouting commands to one another.

"Her BP is dropping! I need a defibrillator in here stat! Some one page Dr. Kaige, tell him we need cardio in Trauma Room one, now!" I barely caught a glimpse of the stout black lady who seemed to be calling all the shots and I didn't understand a word she was saying. _BP? That stands for blood pressure right? What the hell is a defibrillator? And what's cardio? I should know this one_. It was in the back of my mind, something I had learned in biology that one time at Anne's house, when we went to school._ Cardio… Cardio… Sounds almost like car radio. _But what did that have to do with anything? What does a car radio do? _Car radios play music and if you crank it up loud enough you can almost feel the beat… beat… That's it!_ Cardio had something to do with the heart! _Wait a minute what's wrong with Max's heart? _I felt panicked and almost shoved my way into the room with a doctor I was guessing had to be Dr. Kaige. I needed to see Max. I needed to know she would be ok. But they were shouting at each other and blocking the window as they rushed to do twenty different things at once. I could hardly keep up. _Max! _I wanted to shout to her, go to her, I just couldn't stand here and do nothing!

"Sir, I'm going to need you to come with me." I whipped around when a small female nurse tried to pull me away.

"What?" I quickly glanced back to the chaos erupting in the secluded room they had taken Max into. "No." I said firmly and turned back just in time to see her body lurch, her back arching off the table and her head throwing itself back from the surge of electricity they jolted through her body. "No! Wait, don't do that!" I pounded my fist on the window. _Why did I take her here? They don't know what they're doing! They'll kill her!_

"Sir, please, your sister is going to be fine, we need to get your shoulder looked at." The little blonde nurse tried to persuade me.

"I'm fine." I insisted and went for the door. I had to get in there. These doctors only worked on humans, they had no idea how to help Max, they'd only end up making it worse. _I knew I should have taken her to Dr. Martinez. How could I be such an idiot!? _Just as I was about to burst in there and steal Max away from them, the nurse placed her hand on mine, stopping me from turning the door knob. I snapped my harden gaze to her. I was startled by what I saw. Her dark navy blue eyes were strong and determined and she held my hand firmly to keep me from opening the door. I froze. I hadn't expected her to be so bold, weren't nurses supposed to timid? Like they weren't sure what to do? Doctors called all the shots, nurses just cleaned up the mess afterwards. Right?

She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice so only I could hear. "Listen kid, the doctors are going to do everything they can to save her. Why don't you just let them do their job, and I'll do mine."

"But Max is-" I tried to protest

"What? You don't think we noticed you're all part bird?" she asked and pretended to be offended. When I clenched my jaw to squelch the automatic terror towards this whole situation she continued. "You want to help your sister, I get that, but look around you." Reluctantly I took a moment to take in my surroundings.

I hadn't known what to do or where to go when we finally made it to the hospital in Phoenix. I remembered faintly my own experience with a hospital; I had been transported by an ambulance and then rushed in amongst a throng of chaos. Max and the others disappeared and were replaced by people I didn't know or trust, and I was treated for the life threatening injury Max's half brother Ari had given me, against my will. I didn't have any control then and I hardly knew what was going on. I had no idea what to do now. Do I walk in the front door with her bloody body in my arms being followed by a band of wild eyed bird kids? Do I try and ask for help outside the hospital? Do I call 911? What? What do I do?

Then I spotted an ambulance, lights flashing, alarm blaring, speeding into a parking lot hidden in the back. _Of course! The emergency room! _The emergency room had a front door and a desk and all; I could have gone through there. But Max needed help faster than that. And since there was already a horde of doctors running around to help whatever poor soul had arrived in that ambulance, there would be no faster way than to show up down there.

With out another thought I flew after the ambulance and followed it to the receiving doors. I landed clumsily beneath the over hang that the emergency vehicle had pulled into and listened to the flock, landing behind me.

"Please, somebody help us!" Nudge cried as we ran up to the scene. EMTs were pulling a bed from the back of the van and rushing to get the person on the bed inside, being followed by the first responding doctors. No one seemed to notice us at first until the short black doctor finally spotted us and ordered for more help.

"I need more hands down here! Where are those useless attendings? Do I have to do _everything _myself?" she called as another bed was wheeled out and they took Max right out of my arms. Esperanza was taken too and before I knew it everything was out of control. It all went so fast. I did my best to follow Max and keep track of the others at the same time but somewhere along the way more doctors showed up and took them . Where, I didn't know, but my Flock was strong, and smart, they could take care of themselves.

I found myself standing on the outside of the trauma room watching helplessly as they tried to save Max. The wound in my shoulder was bleeding still and I had lost a lot of blood. But I hardly noticed it. Now as I looked around I realized, even though Max was being taken of in there, the chaos out here still hadn't stopped. People in blue scrubs and white lab coats where running this way and that taking care of yet another emergency that had come in while I was distracted. It was almost like it never ended, there was always something to do sooner or faster, somewhere to be two minutes ago, and always someone else to save. The Flock was no where to be seen and the emergency room was manic. I was in the way.

"I'm not going to dance around your feeling here, you're in the way." The nurse said bluntly and I looked back to her. "Standing out here bleeding out through your shoulder, or going in there and causing trouble _isn't _going to help anyone. Now, I can't make you come with me, but if you really want to help you better think long and hard about how it is you're going about it." She hissed, speaking faster and more aggressively as she went along. But at the same time there seemed to be an underlying kindness in her voice.

I looked back through the skinny window in the wooden door at all the commotion going on inside that room. They had stabilized Max and were going through all the routine procedures to make sure she stayed that way. I stared at Max's face and could hardly recognize her. Since when had she gotten so small?

Finally I let my hand relax off the handle of the door and let it go. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to turn away from Max. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I opened my eyes and made sure all of the pain and desperation was out of them before I let the nurse lead me away. I didn't look back; for fear that if I did I wouldn't be able to tear myself away after all. The nurse led me to one of the many beds they had readily available, right there in the emergency room and pulled the curtain shut, closing me off from the rest of the hospital.

She got really close and pushed my long dark bangs back and shined a light in my eyes. Startled I tried to jump back but she had a mean grip on my head and she wouldn't let me up. She shined the light in both my eyes while I struggled to keep my cool. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked watching my eyes closely. You know how you get when some one invades your personal space? Well, when you're a mutant freak who's seen more than his share of hard times, those feelings tend to intensify a hundred fold. I bit the inside of my cheek making it bleed to keep from punching this chick in the face just to get her off of me. Suddenly I wondered if this was something like what Max felt the first couple times I kissed her. I completely understand why she kept running away now.

"Nick." I told her. She took a step back and looked at me skeptically, then looked at her clip board.

"Hmmm…" She mumbled. Guess she didn't believe me. But she brushed it off quickly and went back to looking me over.

"Where is the rest of my fl- family?" I asked coolly, shying away from her as she tried to examine my wound. She looked at me sternly and took hold of my arm to keep me from moving as she started to peel away the pink (red now) cloth from my shoulder.

"You're brothers and sisters are being taken care of, you'll join them after we're done here. Hold still please." She said a littler softer when I flinched at her touch. Suddenly I remembered how much being shot three times in the shoulder hurt and the loss of blood seemed to catch up to me. I felt a little hazy and overwhelmed, but I didn't let on about it any more than I had to. I struggled to string together my thoughts and tried to come up with something to say to get my mind off the pain and off of Max.

"You're a nurse…" I said dumbly. "Shouldn't a doctor be doing this?" She looked at me then with a frown. Had I said something wrong?

"My name is Dr. Monroe. I'm an intern, not a nurse." She corrected me. _What the hell is an intern? _I thought. It couldn't be too important, she said she was a doctor, so what was the difference if she was an _intern? _Then I realized I must have offended her. _Well, she can just get over it. _

"Damn it." I heard her curse under her breath. She had taken off all of the cloth that was wrapped around my shoulder. My clothes and skin were soaked with dark scarlet blood. "I can't tell where the blood is coming from. I'm going to have to cut off your shirt." She said and took some scissor like things from a tray by the bed and began to cut the fabric of my shirt. She carefully removed the belt from my chest and I felt a rush of feeling I hadn't even noticed I lost, making me a little light headed. When it was all off she examined the wound closely. Then I heard her gasp. _Not good._

"Dr. Monroe, what'dya got?" a tall male doctor asked ducking into the secluded area. He looked older and more experienced than the female doctor.

"Male, fourteen, three gun shots to the shoulder." Dr. Monroe listed off looking at a chart. How in the world did they know how old I was? "All three bullets are still inside his body but-" she hesitated.

"But?" the older doctor pressed stepping forward to look at my shoulder now too. I was starting to feel very uneasy about all this attention I was getting and the anesthetic smell of the hospital was making me sick to my stomach.

"But… It seems the wound has already begun to heal over." Dr. Monroe finished. "How many days has it been since you were shot?" she asked me sounding astonished.

"It's only been three or four hours, tops." I answered her. Both doctors looked like I just sprouted wings and antlers right in front of them. Ha, I thought they said they knew what we were. Guess not.

"But h- th-that's-"

"Impossible?" I finished for her. "We never were very good at following the rules, or the laws for that matter." I added remembering how recently we just broke into a lake cabin. "That includes the laws of nature." There was a long awkward silence that followed as both doctors stared at me. I was feeling antsy now, being stared at like some kind a circus sideshow freak. I guess I should be used to it now but the insecurity just never goes away. I felt my skin crawl and I was about to make their heads spin with the quickest exit they'd ever seen in their lives, when the older doctor stepped forward.

"Er- Fang is it?" he asked sounding unsure. Note to all of you doctors out there, it really makes you look bad when you sound unsure.

"Who's asking?" I growled. I didn't like how much they knew about me, I was wound up tight like a rubber band and I was ready to snap any second.

"Fang," He went on taking my response as a 'yes doctor, my name is indeed Fang, one of six genetically enhanced avian Americans, pleased to make your acquaintance.' "My name is Dr. Jacobs, I-" he hesitated for a moment like he wanted to ask me something. "May I see your wings?" he asked at last. My red flag shot up, warning, warning, doctors in white coats, aka scientists, want to see your wings, never a good thing.

"No." I told him, and get this; he looked surprised that I actually said no. It took him a second to gain his composure. "My wings are fine, why would you need to see them?" I asked.

"Listen we-" I was not about to listen to any more of this, the anesthetic was starting to make me dizzy and I was really starting to feel claustrophobic right about now, if these doctors knew what's good for them they'd back off. I was all shaky and sweating up a storm, I was having a hard time catching my breath. I gulped.

"If you're not going to help me, I have places I need to be." I snapped and started to get to my feet.

"You're not going anywhere." Dr. Monroe warned getting stern again and pushing me back on the bed firmly by my good shoulder. Not a good idea. My hand shot out and batted her arm away from me and I glared at her through my dark bangs, daring her to touch me one more time. _Go on, see what happens. _I thought. I didn't care who they were or how badly I was hurt, I needed to get out of there.

"Monroe, stand down." Jacobs ordered and immediately she backed off. I started to get to my feet again to walk out when I caught the look of desperation on Dr. Jacobs' face. "Fang, your mother is on her way." He said calmly. _Ha! He's lying through his teeth._ If only he knew I didn't have a mother, he might have had a better chance with me. I continued to ignore him. "Being a vet she'll know how to help treat the bird part of Max… But Max doesn't have that kind of time." I snapped my head up feeling my heart halt in my chest at his words. The realization of that last thing he said hurt way worse than any bullet wound. _Max is dying. _I stared at Dr. Jacobs. For once in my life I wanted to say something, but I couldn't find the words, let alone swallow the lump in my throat so I _could _speak.

"Wh-what?" I managed to say. I knew Max was in bad shape. Worse than I'd ever seen her before. But I didn't want to believe I could lose her. I wouldn't let myself think like that. Now, hearing some one actually say that Max was going to die, it felt like the very Earth was crumbling from under my feet. I wobbled and had to sit back down. I felt rage begin to boil in the pit of my stomach. I growled in frustration. "You're doctors! You have to save her! That's your job! You're freaking _gods! _You can't let her die!" I shouted abnormally loud. My heart thudded against my ribs and it felt like they would crack and break with the pressure.

"We're doing everything we can for her." Jacobs said calmly. "But she's severely dehydrated and malnourished. She has three broken ribs and her wrist was broken once upon a time but it's healed wrong, we have reason to believe her wings are also broken, but we can't confirm that with out an x-ray and she is in no condition for that. There are also traces of a very strong drug called methamphetamine in her body and a possible over dose. Her lungs keep filling up with fluids and we're still having trouble stopping the bleeding. There were also signs of sexual abuse." Dr. Jacobs explained. _Oh god, Max no. _By now I could hardly breathe and my heart hurt… so bad. I felt it constricting painfully making me sick to my stomach. I squeezed my eyes shut hearing all this and gulped hard; I clenched my jaw so hard I was sure it would break, and breathed sharply through my teeth. _This can't be happening. Not to Max. What did she ever do to deserve this? _My eyes snapped open when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"We know this is hard for you." Monroe whispered softly.

"But we need your help, Fang. Let us treat your shoulder, and let us see your wings, take a few x-rays; we need to see how your bodies work so that we can figure out how to save her." Jacobs insisted. I looked up at the doctor. _How did I let this happen? _I thought, unable to keep the pain out of my eyes. I looked down at my hands in my lap and turned them palm up. They were trembling so hard, and they were covered in Max's blood. There was so much of it; I had more of her blood on me than my own. I quickly shoved my hands deep inside my pockets and stared at the ground. _I promised her… I promised the flock. How could I have let this happen?_

_It was still semi-dark out. I was awakened by the sound of soft bare footed foot steps making their way passed my open door. I listened to them drag a little on the carpet then make their way down the stairs. I sat up recognizing them. _Max? _I thought. I checked the clock on my bedside table. Six o'clock am. It was a simple little alarm clock that didn't even work. In fact none of our alarm clocks worked. Not only did we not have a need for them (Max's wake up call was enough to wake the neighbors, if we had any neighbors), but Iggy and Gazzy had discovered their usefulness in the art of bomb making a long time ago. I was surprised they still told time. The only alarm clock that still worked but was never used in this house was Max's Micky Mouse alarm clock. And that was only cause she threatened to kick their sorry asses to the moon if they ever tried to make a bomb with it. _

_I threw the covers off and silently stepped out of bed then made my way after Max down the stairs, my socked feet making no noise on the carpet whatsoever. I went slowly at first. Then I was alerted by the smell of something burning. My first instinct was that the house was on fire and I quickened my pace, following my nose to the kitchen. But the house was still in one piece (so far) and there was no fire (yet). The kitchen lights were on and Max was standing over our little four burner stove, burning the living daylights out of some poor innocent eggs._

_"You know," I spoke up shoving my hands in my pockets and leaning against the half wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. I could tell I startled her when she nearly jumped out of her skin. "You're supposed to break the eggs open before you cook them." She turned to me and I saw her face turn a light shade of pink._

_"I- I know that!" She insisted defensively and went to pick the eggs (still in their shells) out of the pan with her bare hand. My eyes widened._

_"Uh Max?" I tried to warn her. But she found out the hard way. She let out a small startled yelp and dropped the egg back into the pan, then sucked on her burnt fingers. I smirked to myself and watched the egg seep out of its shell and crackle on the hot pan. I looked back up at her face and my smirk vanished. She wasn't looking at me, just staring into the pan absently and she started to stir the burning egg, shell pieces and all. She was hurting._

_"What are you doing?" I asked her. She sniffed a little and shook her head._

_"I- I figured I'd let Iggy sleep in this morning." She mumbled. I looked at the microwave clock, just to make sure it really was what time I thought it was. Sure enough it said 6:09 am. _

_"Max it's six o'clock in the morning." I told her. "And you suck at cooking."_

_"If it's so early then why don't you just march your lazy ass back up to bed and leave me alone!" She snapped and whirled on me whipping the spatula in my direction. A portion of the burnt slimy eggs flew off the spatula and landed smack dap in the middle of my face. I blinked a few times to get the slime out of my eyes. She stood there stock still staring at me in shock. Then her cheeks turned a rosey shade of red and her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a snort of laughter that reached her eyes. _

_"Oh, you think this is funny?" I asked reaching for a dish towel to wipe my face off with. She nodded and could hardly contain her laughter. I smiled to myself from behind the cloth as I cleaned off the goo on my forehead and in my hair, listening to her laugh. I loved her laugh. She didn't laugh too often any more, not since Jeb vanished. So hearing it now was like music to my ears. Then slowly her laughing voice tightened… and I realized she was crying. _

_I quickly dropped the towel and looked at her as she press her back to the counter and slid down, burying her face in her hands and pulling her knees up tight to her body. Max crying was probably the worst sound in the world. She was so strong and always so happy, even though I knew she was in pain. But she never cried in front of the others. I still found it hard to believe myself when she cried in front of me. And trust me, that didn't happen too often either. I slowly knelt down beside her and sat next to her with my back to the counter. _

_"I'm sorry." She whispered and tried to hastily dry her tears on her arm. She sniffed again and kept her face turned away from me. I didn't say anything to her. I knew whatever I said would surely only make it worse. "I couldn't sleep." She confided. "He's been gone over a month now…I don't think he's coming back." She said in a strangled voice. All I could do was sit there and watch her sadly. She slowly leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder. "It's just- hard…You know?" she asked quietly. I didn't respond. I knew she was scared, and heart broken. She needed me to be there for her._

_"It'll be ok." I assured her. It was my three word version of a promise to always be there for her, to help her and protect her, her and the flock. She smiled sadly and nodded against my shoulder._

_"Thanks." She whispered. After that I helped her up and cleaned up the mess she had made of the kitchen as she stumbled back up to bed. There was no way I'd be getting any more sleep tonight after all this. So instead I stayed up, I went for a little spin until the sun peeked its golden face over the horizon, then went home and helped Iggy with breakfast. That morning, Max was the last to wake up._

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up again. I had broken my promise. Now it was my responsibility to make it right again. If that meant swallowing my gut and letting these doctors do tests on me, If it meant I'd get the chance to hear her laugh just one last time, then I'd do it in a heart beat. I nodded to them at last.

"First things first," Monroe said. "You're going to need surgery to get those bullets out of your shoulder. We'll put you under for-"

"No!" I said quickly. They looked at me. "I don't want you to put that stuff in my body."

"What stuff? The anesthetic?" Jacobs asked. I nodded.

"Fang- If we don't knock you out the pain of the procedure will be too much for your body to handle. We'll be cutting you open and digging out pieces of led from your shoulder. Can you imagine how much that'll hurt?" Monroe asked looking a little concerned.

"Trust me." I said in a low dark tone. "I've been through worse." And to tell the truth… it would be nothing compared to what Max had gone through. The doctors looked at each other skeptically, and then they looked at me. But I had made my decision, if they wanted to get the bullets out of me, they'd have to do it while I was still conscious.

* * *

"AAHHHGG! Damn it!" Fang screamed. They could hear him all the way down the hall in their temporary room.

"What are they doing to him!?" Nudge exclaimed biting her lip and staring at their closed door. Her arm was in a proper sling and pressed firmly against her body. They had all been cleaned up and bandaged after arriving at the hospital. Angel was lying back on the bed holding Celeste (who had also been washed) to her chest trying to block out the terrible screams. Iggy leaned against the wall his arms crossed and his face tight, listening to the sounds of Fang's pain. He was all the way down the hall in another room, getting his shoulder cut into and the bullets removed. He had refused to let them put him under for a proper surgery and now he was probably in more pain than he had been in when he initially got the wound.

Gazzy was in a very uncomfortable looking chair with his feet up, hugging his knees to him tightly. He stared at the floor. "Do you think they're going to be ok?" he asked. "I mean, Fang, Esperanza, and Max?" No one had an answer. Gazzy closed his eyes and gulped loudly as Fang let out another ear splitting cry. It must have been bad to make him scream. Fang never screamed. Iggy turned to face the window behind him and leaned on the ledge staring out blindly into the night. He breathed in through his nose and let it out with a deep sigh.

"Let's try and get some sleep." He said, even though he knew there would be no way any of them would be able to fall asleep. "They said Dr. Martinez should be here in the morning. Then we can go home."

"I don't want to go home. Not without Fang and Max." Angel said quietly. Iggy turned to her, and then crawled into the hospital bed next to her. He put his arms around her and held her as she buried her face in his chest. "I'm scared." She whispered. "The doctors… I don't like what they're thinking."

Nudge turned around and faced Iggy and Angel, and Gazzy lifted his head. "What are they thinking Ange? Is it about Max? And Fang? What about Esperanza? Is it bad? I don't think I want to hear it if it's bad." Nudge said all at once. Angel was quiet for a long time before she finally spoke up.

"Esperanza isn't as bad off as Max. They say that she should be fine…" Angel mumbled. She moved her face from Iggy's shirt so she could speak clearer. "And they're going to use Fang to help save Max."

"How?" Gazzy asked not liking the sound of that.

"Do tests on him." Every one's eyes widened and Nudge gave a little shudder at that. "They want to take pictures of the inside of his body… so they know how it works, so that they can help Max."

"Why couldn't they do that with Max? She's the one who's hurt." Nudge pointed out.

"Because… B-because…" Tears sprang to her little blue eyes and she buried her face in Iggy's shirt again. "Because she's going to die." And just like that it was like a bomb had exploded inside all of them. Nudge stood there silently, eyes wide mouth gaping in shock._ That can't be. _She thought and a lone tear started to make its way down her cheek. Immediately Gazzy started to shake his head in disbelief.

"No." He muttered. "Max… Max _can't _die. That's not possible! She's- she's- she's Maximum Ride! She's invincible!" he exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

"No body's... Invincible Gaz... Not even us." Iggy said painfully slow, like he was struggling to speak.

"Max is!" Gazzy exclaimed. There was silence after that. Not even Fang was crying out anymore, the procedure done and his shoulder being stitched up now. And every one just cried. They cried like they had never cried before.

Gazzy was still shaking his head and burying his face in his knees, soaking his jeans in his tears. _I knew we should have done something. _He thought. _We should have been looking for her… a long time ago. It's not fair! I hate this! It's just not fair! _

Nudge lowered herself to the floor where she was and sniffled, hugging herself tightly, trying so hard not to cry. But the tears came. She just couldn't help it. _This can't be happening…This has to be a dream. Max can't die…What are we going to do with out her? _She thought to herself as the tears came faster and faster.

_Damn it Max. _Iggy cursed clenching his jaw and hugging Angel tightly. _How could you leave us like this? How could you leave Fang like this? We still need you, damn it._

Angel looked up at every one, her eyes all red and puffy. _She's not dead yet you guys. _She thought to them hearing what every one of them was thinking. _She- she could still have a chance. Fang's not going to let her go with out a fight. _Though Angel's words seemed to reassure every one a little bit, the quiet crying continued until every one of them had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

They did all kinds of tests on me, both physical and mental. I showed them my wings and they picked through my feathers and examined every inch of my twenty something wingspan. They took x-rays of me and an MRI and CAT scans and all those hospitally acronym tests that no one can understand. And I muscled my way through every one of them, for Max. And all through the tests they were taking notes and going back and forth between me and her, using what they learned from me to help her. I offered my blood, and bone marrow, I offered my entire body to them if it would help save her. But they refused. Said I had lost too much blood already and that they wouldn't risk losing me too. I don't think they understood that I didn't care if I lived or died. As long as Max lived. I'd do anything.

By the time everything was finally done it was nearly morning. I hadn't seen Max or any of the others since we entered the hospital. And I was beaten down exhausted. But I couldn't sleep. Not yet. They moved her from the trauma room to her own hospital room some time ago and I was in her room and at her side the moment she was stable and they would let me see her. I was all cleaned up, Max's blood had been washed from my body and they provided me with a new shirt. My shoulder was all stitched up and wrapped tightly. They said it would take a while to heal; my guess was maybe a day and a half.

I stared at Max, not even daring to touch her for fear she would break, willing her to wake up, praying she'd be ok. She was hooked up to a machine that was breathing for her; with out it she'd be dead. They said they did everything they could for her, but she was already so far gone. They said she may never wake up. I felt the tears slowly come to my eyes. Now that I think about it… I don't think I've ever once cried in my entire life. But seeing her like this now… I couldn't help myself.

I took in a shaky breath as I reached out and touched her pale face gently. She was so cold. I moved my hand and brushed some hair from her face gently, then cupped my hand against her. "Max." I whispered her name hoarsely. I wished she could hear me, I wanted her to wake up so badly. I wanted to see her eyes open, I wanted her to see me. But she was gone.

I moved my hand to hers and gripped it tightly, squeezing my eyes shut as the tears finally spilled over. I breathed hard through my teeth, finding the pain in my heart almost unbearable. "Oh god." I muttered. _This can't be happening. _Then I suddenly felt something pushing against the back of my legs. I whipped around to see Nudge standing behind me pushing a chair up for me. She gave me a weak smile. And I just stared at her. I looked around. The rest of the flock had come into Max's room silently and I hadn't even noticed it in my state of shock.

Angel was on the other side of Max's bed and Gazzy helped her up onto it. She crawled in beside Max and wrapped Max's arms around her tiny body, cuddling as close to her as she could, practically willing her own body warmth to our dying leader. Gazzy watched his little sister sadly sniffling a little, he couldn't even bring himself to look at Max. Iggy came over and gently felt Max's face with his hands, then moved down feeling the rest of her body. His face contorted in pain at what he felt.

Her wings were wrapped and bound tightly to her body, her wrist and hand and half her arm was in a cast, her body was battered and bruised, and there were stitches in her mid section where they cut her open to stop the bleeding in her uterus. Her lips were dried and cracked and a sick shade of blue, and there were so many scars on her arms and legs it hardly seemed possible she was in one piece. And she was so thin and pale, and so small. I could hardly believe this was really Max. I half expected the real Max to walk in and proclaim it all to be just a big misunderstanding. That she was ok and this sorry girl in front of us wasn't her. But it was her.

I lowered myself into the chair Nudge had provided, still clutching Max's hand tightly. Nudge moved over to my side and just stared at Max silently. It was so quiet. I looked at them and I could tell they had all been crying. Even Iggy. Angel must have tapped into the doctors' minds and told them what was going on. If that was the case… Then there was no doubt she knew that Max had been…

_I try not to think about it. _I heard Angel's voice in my head. _And I haven't told the others. _She added. I looked at her. She had her eyes still closed and she was nestled in next to Max as close as she could possibly get. Later on Gazzy had fallen asleep on Nudge, who was also asleep, sitting on the floor leaning her back against the wall and holding little Gazzy's head in her lap. After Iggy had gone through the room feeling all the colors he could find (All he found was white and blue) twice, just to get his mind unsuccessfully off of Max, he curled up on the other hospital bed in the room and also fell asleep. Angel hadn't moved from Max's arms and I was still in the chair holding on to her lifeless hand for dear life. Then slowly I laid my head on her arm and let myself fall into a restless, dreamless sleep, praying with all my heart that when I opened my eyes this will all have turned out to be nothing but a bad dream.

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**Hey look! What's that new button thingy down there that says leave comment/review!? What? Are you telling me it's _always _been there? Well then what are you waiting for!? Click it already! I want to see what happens! Lol, thanks for reading my friends, don't forget to review!**

**LOL (Lots of Love)  
Flock-Member7**


	9. Chapter 9

Let me start out by apologizing to all of you. This is _not _a new chapter to 'Burning Bridges in Hell' But it is very very important that you read this note.

I felt that after the last chapter, now would be a good time to talk to all of you about the depth of this story. I'm not sure all of you are aware that I in fact am not writing this just for the fun of it. 'Burning Bridges in Hell' is indeed an entertaining read and has a very fictional feel to it. But it's not all about kids with wings and happy endings. In this 'chapter' I would like to discuss the severity of how the real world plays into it. I understand that a lot of you aren't interested and think you have better things to do than read this warning, or you think 'no, it could never happen to me.' But the fact is, this particular topic is often over looked, there are very limited laws and enforcement to control it and the awareness of it is alarmingly low. And the truth is, it _can _happen to you. I'm talking about Human Trafficking.

Victims of human trafficking include

Children, both male and female, under the age of 18, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, all ethnicities, forced with either physical violence or through deception to preform commercial sex acts.

Men and Women age 18 and up, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, all ethnicities, forced through physical violence, deception, or manipulation into preform commercial sex acts.

Children and adults of _all _ages, ethnicity, and back grounds, forced to preform labor and/or services in conditions of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, through force, fraud, or coercion.

In other words, _anyone _can be a potential victim to being forced by whatever means necessary into sex slavery or labor slavery for the trafficker's profit.

It is typical that traffickers target victims from vulnerable populations, mostly illegal immigrants, run-aways and at risk youth, and oppressed or poor populations. But that doesn't mean that if you come from a well educated, well endowed family that you are immune to the risk of becoming a victim to human trafficking.

Fact:

13: Is the average age of first being prostituted and trafficked in the commercial sex industry in the US. (Esperanza is twelve Max is fourteen so they both fit into this category)

50: Percent of victims are children (U.S. Department of Justice)

244,000 – 325,000: Is the number of American children and youth who are at risk for sexual exploitation and sex trafficking every year (University of Pennsylvania)

There is actually a _market _for human beings. Human trafficking and sex trafficking is an industrial run _market. _Which means its operations follow the laws of supply and demand, there are manufacturers (the people who kidnap, collect, or manipulate people into becoming victims), there are shippers (people who transport these victims), there are facilitators (people who essentially provide the means to make the operation possible, this includes, hotel managers or owners, individual house holds or families housing victims, online web sites that support it), there are beneficiaries (the people who are receiving the sex act or forced labor), and the victims are considered no more than an item or product to be used and handled. People are bought, sold, and traded like animals. If you thought slavery was outlawed and ended when blacks were freed, you'd be wrong.

The traffickers will use _any _means necessary to force their victims into bending to their will. Physical or sexual abuse, drugs, threats to harm family members, promises for a better life, deception, codependency, even a guise of an actual business that help get immigrants into the country. If you thought I was exaggerating the horrors that Max experienced, you'd be wrong. **This. Is. Real.**

The sad part about it is, human trafficking is a very low risk high profit job. Meaning, traffickers are very rarely caught or persecuted. It is very difficult to pick out a victim of human trafficking, they may appear to be every day people you pass by on the street. And it's not that this underground network is so complicated that officers and law enforcement can't _find _victims or perpetrators, it's that there is _very _little awareness, and virtually zero laws to prevent it, and almost no actions being carried out to end it.

Fact:

Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world.

Quick overview (actioncenter-dot-polarisproject-dot-org)

**What is Human Trafficking?**

Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Victims experience a loss of freedom and exploitation at the hands of their traffickers who buy and sell them in pursuit of profit. As a result, human trafficking is commonly known as modern-day slavery.

In human trafficking situations, traffickers gain complete control over victims and force them into the labor, services, or commercial sex industry in order to generate profit from their labor and commercial sex acts. Some of the forms of violence traffickers use to control their victims include brutal beatings, rape, lies and deception, threats of serious harm or familial harm, and psychological abuse.

Although human trafficking often involves transportation and physical abuse, it is essential to remember that **under U.S. federal law:**

**Trafficking is not smuggling or forced movement.****Trafficking does not require transportation or movement across borders.****Trafficking does not require physical abuse, force, or restraint. ** Often, traffickers use psychological manipulation or abuse to control their victims.

**Who Are the Victims?**

Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking. Victims can be:

U.S. citizens or foreign nationals

Any race

Male or female

Child or adult of any age

Rich or poor

Educated or uneducated

It is essential to remember that education, wealth, age, or social standing does not guarantee invulnerability to becoming a victim of human trafficking. Traffickers often prey on people who are hoping for a better life, lack employment opportunities, have an unstable home life, or have a history of sexual abuse - conditions present in all portions of society.

The U.S. State Department estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the U.S. annually. The National Runaway Switchboard estimates that every year thousands of American children are lured into the trafficking industry.

Both foreign national and U.S. citizen victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states and in Washington, DC. They are forced to work or provide commercial sex against their will in legal and legitimate business settings as well as underground markets. Some victims are hidden behind locked doors in brothels and factories. In other cases, victims are in plain view, but the widespread lack of awareness of trafficking leads to low levels of victim identification by the people who come into contact with them. For example, women and girls in sex trafficking situations, especially U.S. citizens, are often misidentified as being voluntarily in the sex industry.

**Who Are the Traffickers?**

Traffickers lure and ensnare individuals into labor and sex trafficking situations by using force, fraud, or coercion. Examples of potential traffickers include:

Pimps

Brothel owners

People who have servants in their homes

Small businesses

Criminal networks

**What Fuels Human Trafficking?**

Human trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry that is fueled by the demand for the labor, services, and commercial sex acts of human trafficking victims. Traffickers, who are motivated primarily by the goal of making money, force victims into the labor, services, or commercial sex industry because they can generate large profits.

**Who Are the Facilitators?**

Facilitators include a wide range of individuals, organizations, businesses and corporations, internet sites and practices. What all facilitators have in common is that they enable or support the trafficking industry. Facilitators may include:

Landlords

Hotels and motels

Transportation companies

Advertisers

Banks and financial services corporations

In some cases, facilitators are aware of their involvement in human trafficking, and the profits they generate outweigh reservations they may have about their role. In other cases, facilitators are unaware and find it difficult to know when they are enabling trafficking to occur.

**For More Information And Survivor Testimonies Please Visit The Polaris Project Action Center at**_**actioncenter-dot-polarisproject-dot-org**_

Thank you for reading this. It is very important to me that you all understand why I started writing this fan fiction. It's true that it is indeed a very good, well written story for your entertainment, but it also has a lot of truth behind it as well. I have received comments saying that I am sick and wrong for writing this story and that I should not continue to write it. The truth of the matter is, I'm not sick, this is a reality. Human trafficking, the things that Max experienced are very real and have happened to hundreds of men, women, and children all over the U.S. Actual living breathing human beings have experienced what you've read in this story and so many more, horrific, terrible things.

Again, thank you for your time and for allowing me to do my part in spreading global awareness of this issue. I believe Fang is right about one thing, just because we're kids doesn't mean we don't have the power to help change the world.

This is how I've decided to use my power.

What are you doing with yours?


	10. Chapter 10

**GAH! So sorry this took so long. I got a couple more hours at work than usual and then I started my senior project and I started school back up, then there's the whole adoption thing going on. (We're adopting a little boy and a little girl, Brother and Sister) I'm just so dang BUSY! But fear not! I'm still here and still alive. (Though I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep my sanity if this snow keeps up. I hate snow.) So anyways, I'm not telling you anything about this chapter. You'll just have to read it for yourself. No Lemons. Next chapter probably. ENJOY OR ELSE!**

**Oh, and thanks for all the wonderful comments and reviews for chapter eight and the awareness chapter nine as I like to call it. Kid Power Rocks! (What!? Turning eighteen in April? Me? Psh, No! Pft, heh, ha, who told you that silly lie? *hides in soon to be boring adult emo corner*)**

**ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THEN REVIEW! *puppy dog eyes* pwease?  
**

* * *

Do you know how hard it is to sleep when the most important person in your life is all but dead? When she's teetering on that line between life and death, when just one wrong move or miscalculation will send her plummeting over the cliff? When losing her forever is almost inevitable, sleep is almost impossible. And you can pretty much forget about dreams or at least the good ones anyway. Any hopes I had for a light and feathery subconscious fantasy vanished when I stepped into that hazy blue fog that seemed to go on forever. I didn't imagine Max waking up and everything going back to normal, or at least as normal as things have ever been with us. I didn't dream that none of this had ever happened. I didn't even have nightmares of the worst possible scenarios. I just wandered endlessly through nothingness. I walked on and on in a daze, even when I was awake, the fog never lifted. I felt so lost.

Some time after I had finally slipped into unconsciousness, I was awakened by movement in Max's bed. I looked up, almost hopeful that she had miraculously woken up. My hopes were crushed when I found her as still and as cold as before. Angel had squirmed off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom near the entrance to the room. The door was heavy and in her sleepiness she struggled to push it open. When she came out, instead of going back to Max, she made her way to Nudge and Gazzy, who were asleep on the floor between the two beds, and collapsed next to them. Waking momentarily, Nudge shifted so she could hold both Gazzy and Angel to her. The sling for her arm was tossed carelessly aside and she seemed to be using both arms just fine. I looked over to do a quick check on Iggy and was surprised to see him sitting up, his long legs dangling over the side of the bed, his back to the rest of us. He stared blindly at the ground below him and looked up when he sensed my eyes on him. Without turning to me he spoke.

"We're hopeless." He muttered just barely so not to wake the kids. It wasn't like Iggy to just say something like that, and not have an explanation for why he said it. So I waited patiently for him to continue. "We were on vacation. Granted it was a pretty lame vacation but still. We were supposed to be just relaxing for a bit, a week away from all the pain and mortal peril. And for a moment… just for a moment… it felt like we were back home again. It felt like it did back when the greatest danger was eating Max's meatloaf surprise, when the only thing we had to save was the little birds with broken wings... Remember when Angel brought home a whole nest full of unhatched robin eggs?"

"Mmhmm." I nodded thinking back to what had become known as 'The Great Feather Fiasco.' Angel couldn't have been more than three or four years old. She had found these robin eggs in a tree and snuck them inside the house. Unbeknownst to the rest of us, she hid them amongst her bed of stuffed animals. They hatched no more than three days later. When baby birds hatch their feathers are all wet and sticky, leaving them looking bald, but after about a half hour of fluffing their feathers dry off and poof, no more baldness. However, Angel didn't know that. When she saw the pathetic little bald birdies she was worried that something was wrong with them because they didn't have feathers, so she decided to give them some. She took the pillows from Nudge and Max's beds and tore them apart, then carried armfuls of little white feathers to her makeshift nest, only to find out that her baby birds had magically grown red fluff. You can imagine Max wasn't too thrilled when she followed the trail of mangled pillows to Angel's little corner and found a whole nest of live birds. It took Jeb nearly twenty minutes to calm Max down so she didn't tear up the rest of the pillows in the house. That had quite possibly been one of the funniest things that had ever happened while we were there.

"But just like back then, we're never aloud to be happy for long. Right after that Jeb vanished, then Angel was kidnapped, and then one thing after another, nothing was ever fair or easy, it's always been pain." Iggy said sadly. "And yet, everything was always ok, despite everything that was going on, it was always ok because Max made it ok." I turned back to look at Max as he went on. "We should have seen this coming, we were too comfortable, too happy, it was only a matter of time before _something _happened, and this time… Max isn't here to make it ok." There was a long pause as I struggled with what to say. It wasn't the first time he'd had one of these depressing moments, but Max had always been the one to pull him through it. What was _I _supposed to do? Suddenly I got where he was going with this and I looked back over at his back, I could just barely make out the outline of his wings. "While we were busy, lying around, playing with model airplanes, and fighting with each other, she was going through hell. And she _still _managed to make it out and save that girl's life!" Iggy said getting a little louder; I quickly glanced over at Nudge Angel and Gazzy to make sure he hadn't woken them up. I could sense how frustrated he was, and angry, but he lowered his voice again trying to stay calm. "We've always just floundered about and gotten ourselves into trouble, sure, we were there to help Max fight her battles. But in the end it was always Max who saved the day, we were just along for the ride. Tell me… If Max is supposed to save the world, what are _we _supposed to do? How do we fit into the grand scheme of things? With out Max, we're pathetic. And if Max dies, where does that leave us? Who's going to save the world then?"

"Max isn't going to die Iggy." I promised. But that didn't seem to be enough.

"You don't know that," He muttered and I could have sworn I heard his voice crack. "You don't know that." He shook his head helplessly. He slowly stood and turned to me, I almost couldn't bare the look in his eyes. He had lost all hope. "Gazzy doesn't get it because he's only eight years old. To him Max is like a super hero. Though many have tried, all have failed to kill the great Maximum Ride" He said with great exaggerated awe. Then his eyes fell and he went silent for a while like he was deep in thought "… But every hero has their kryptonite." He whispered at last. "And _nobody_ is invincible."

* * *

"Fang," I felt my body being shaken awake and the sound of a soft and motherly voice drifted through my subconscious. "Fang, wake up." The voice sounded a little more urgent now and my eyes snapped open immediately. I shot up into a sitting position from where I was curled up on the only other bed, that Iggy had previously inhabited, besides Max's.

"I'm awake!" I said a little more loudly than I intended. The familiar, olive toned doctor who had been trying to wake me jumped back a little startled. It took a moment to register who she was as I blinked the sleep from my eyes. "Dr. Martinez." I mumbled recognizing her.

She looked a little hurt when I said her name. "Fang, we've talked about that. Or I guess I've talked about that, you kind of just… listened." She said a little nervously.

"Sorry," I muttered. She wanted me to call her by her first name. She didn't mind being called Dr. Martinez, in fact she preferred it from every one else. But Max called her Mom; she was The Maximum Ride's mother, so I found it hard to call her anything less formal. "What time is it?" I asked turning a little to look out the window. The sun was already high in the sky, I felt panic begin to sink in when I realized I had already slept most of the day.

"Nearly eleven." Dr. Martinez answered me. I whipped around to face her again.

"What!? How did I sleep so long!? Where are the kids? What happened to the others?" I asked frantically looking around and realizing Dr. Martinez and I were the only ones in the room. Well, besides Max that is. Dr. Martinez held up her hands in the universal 'slow down' gesture.

"Fang, calm down, they're fine. Jeb just took them downstairs to get some breakfast. He figured to let you sleep when you didn't wake up." She explained. She looked at me with worry, and she had every right to. I was on edge, especially after what happened with Iggy this morning. I couldn't help but let his words get to me a little, and I was a little jumpy, which was highly unusually for calm cool me.

"Jeb," I breathed nodding, trying to collect myself again. I should have known he'd be here with her; they seemed to be connected at the hip these days. "Is Ella and Total…?" I trailed off not really knowing how to finish my question.

"Total is with Angel." Dr. Martinez answered, I could have guessed that. No doubt Angel was using her powers to 'convince' everyone that having a talking black Scottie dog in the hospital was completely normal. "Ella is at school… She doesn't know yet." She finished sadly. I found myself envying Ella in that moment, for all she knew mom was at work and big sis was off on vacation still, not a vegetable in a hospital bed. Then again, she'd have to know sooner or later. I knew Dr. Martinez found out from Jeb, and I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out how Jeb seemed to know everything. I nodded to Dr. Martinez in acknowledgment then stepped out of the hospital bed. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and went to stare out the window. We were in a room high up off the ground, surrounded by all the other wings to the hospital that were just as tall or even taller. Sirens and car horns, muffled by the shatter proof glass, were all that came from the outside world. Inside, doctors and nurses were talking and chatting, going about their business on the other side of our closed door. Their words were impossible to decipher, but I could still hear their low voices. I listened to Dr. Martinez making her way around the bed to stand by me. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"M'fine." I lied with a shrug. I cringed and made a mental note to myself, shrugging with a bullet wound to your shoulder, not a good idea. Of course I wasn't ok, how could I be? I had known all along where Max was and what she was going through, but I didn't do anything about it. And when I finally did find her, she was so out of it that she _shot _me. I did everything the doctors told me to do to help save her, but it wasn't enough, I was too late, and now she's in a coma and has to use a freaking _machine_ to make her breathe! Iggy's abandoned all hope and Gazzy can't even _look _at Max! And who knows what's going on with Angel and Nudge! To make matters worse, I don't know how many times I thought to myself, if I had just given in to what I had been feeling for her back at the cabin, if I had just been with her like she wanted me to… If I hadn't let my stupid conscious and morals get in the way… None of this would have ever happened. It made me sick to think if I had just had _sex_ with Max, she wouldn't have run off, she wouldn't have been captured and tortured and… raped. This was entirely my fault. And I wasn't ok. "How is she?" I asked dumbly. I was trying to get the focus off me. I caught Dr. Martinez shaking her head out of the corner of my eye.

"I don't know yet, they haven't let me do an examination." She said.

"What are the doctors saying?" When she hesitated at my question I turned to face her, keeping my face stone cold and expressionless. She took a deep shaky breath before continuing.

"They're saying that if she were human, she'd be dead."

"No kidding." I grunted. I already knew that, had Max been any less than what she was she'd have been dead long before we escaped the school with Jeb all those years ago. We all would be.

"She should have died way before you found her; the doctors are saying they found enough traces of meth to kill a small horse." Dr. Martinez explained going into vet mode. "I'd say she's lucky she's in a coma, her body is detoxing, and if she were awake I can't even imagine the torture she'd be going through right now. If she ever wakes up-"

"_When _she wakes up." I interrupted her sternly. Just because Iggy had given up on Max, didn't mean I was going to. Martinez looked at me surprised by the fierceness in my voice. I clenched my jaw hard trying not to get worked up, and turned to look over at Max's still form. I couldn't let myself believe that she wouldn't pull through this. She had to, the world still needed her, the Flock still needed her, _I _still needed her. I don't know what I'd do if she really died on me. So I wouldn't let myself think for even a moment that she wasn't going to live. I felt my eyes sting with tears and quickly shut off all emotion, stifling the water building in my eyes. "She's going to live." I insisted firmly. "Max is…" I shook my head. Max is beautiful. Max is smart. Max is fearless, loving, and passionate, fierce, and cunning. She's hard headed and stubborn. She's fast. She's brave. Max is perfect. She'd never give up fighting. Because… Max is…

"Max is strong. Stronger than any one I know." Martinez finished for me almost reading my mind. "And she's survived so much already; it's hard to imagine she could die. But, Fang… Nobody's invincible." I turned to Dr. Martinez again shocked by what I was hearing from her. She was giving up hope! On her own daughter! She, like Iggy, didn't believe that Max would make it through this. _Her _of all people! It could have only been her way of dealing with the pain, shutting down and letting her rational doctor instincts take over, but that was no excuse. Dr. Valencia Martinez, Max's mom, was the _last _person who should be losing faith right now.

"Room service!" chimed a cheerful voice bursting into the room, being followed by four gloomy bird kids an oddly silent black dog. Jeb came in carrying a plate piled high and over flowing with a variety of inedible looking hospital gunk, oblivious to the tension between Martinez and me. "It's only leftovers from what the Flock didn't eat, but I figured you wouldn't mind." Jeb shrugged passing Max and placing the tray on the little swivel table that fit over the empty hospital bed. I took one look at the mush and goo that this place called 'food' and didn't blame the others for not being hungry. Seriously, who eats this stuff? Is that supposed to be Jello or mashed potatoes? I wasn't about to try it and find out. And to tell the truth I didn't really have an appetite at the moment. Not with everybody all but digging Max's grave and Jeb purposefully trying to blind us with happy sunshine rays that seemed to emanate from the very pores of his skin. I get that he was just trying to cheer us all up, but right now, with everyone shuffling about, shovels in tow; it just really wasn't a good time to be acting so cheery.

"Hey Fang," Nudge greeted me softly, coming over and climbing onto the bed. She pushed the table on wheels aside as Angel climbed up with her, followed by Total, who jumped up next to them. He spun in a few circles before plopping down and resting his head on his paws with a huff. Angel stoked his fur gently and leaned against Nudge. Gazzy had his hands stuffed in the pocket of his sweatshirt and didn't give Max so much as a glance as he fell back onto a little red chair lazily, as far away from the lifeless leader as he could get. Iggy stood by the door his arms crossed, taking an instinctual sentential position of the room. Everyone was silent.

Iggy seemed to be concentrating on the sounds outside of the room, alert for anything out of the ordinary, all signs of distress gone. As if this morning had never happened and he was going about the day like any other. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the edge of the windowsill and let the silence really sink in. This was where Max would usually insert a witty remark, had she been awake, but now it was almost heartbreaking how quiet it was with out her. Jeb sighed after a while, dropping his Miss Sunshine act.

"Ok you guys, here's the deal." He started, immediately we all stiffened ready to protest. We didn't take kindly to being told what to do or what was going to happen to us. Even if it was a good idea, we had formed a silent mutual pact to resist authority no matter the circumstances, so much so that now it was only second nature. But Jeb pushed forward. "It's not a good idea for you all to be holed up here at the hospital, especially like this." He said indicating the dark cloud that seemed to be hovering over us. "Valencia and I are going to take you back home to rest and recuperate while Max is in the hospital." He finished as if we were the good little bird kids he always wanted that did whatever we were told. Fat chance.

"I don't want to leave, not with out Max." Angel said in a no nonsense tone.

"I concur," Total agreed, speaking up for the first time. "No one should be left behind. If one of us goes, we all go." I guess he was still a little sore over being left at home while we vacationed in hell. I resisted rolling my eyes at the arrogant little mutt.

"There's no reason for you to be here, none of you need to be hospitalized, and you're not helping Max any by staying here." Martinez tried to explain. I remembered when Max had refused to take refuge with Anne until I could go with them. It would be no different with her.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm gunna be here when Max wakes up." I said. End of discussion.

"If Fang stays, I stay." Nudge added, "We're a package deal and we stick together, no matter what. We learned that the hard way when Fang and the boys spilt and we wound up on the inside of an outside job. If this is where Max is, this is where Fang will be, if this is where Max and Fang are, this is where Angel and Total will be, if this is where Max, Fang, Angel, and Total are, this is where Gazzy will be, if this is where Max, Fang, Angel, Total, and Gazzy are, this is where Iggy will be, and if they're all here, I'll be here, plain and simple." I was glad Nudge was feeling Nudge enough to go on like that.

"It's not healthy for you to-" Iggy interrupted Jeb from where he was standing by the door.

"Face it, we're staying right here, and there's nothing you can do about it." Score one for the Igster! Maybe hadn't lost all hope after all.

"That's right." Gazzy nodded with a determined glare. So take that Mr. High and mighty Jeb Batchelder, just because Max isn't here to lead us, doesn't mean we're going to lie down like dogs and let you push us around. Not even the dog was going to stand for it. Jeb let out a long sigh and let his shoulders droop, giving up the battle.

"Very well, I see there's no point in arguing with you." Damn straight. Then he paused, and I knew what he was going to say before the words even crossed his lips. I felt rage start to build in the pit of my stomach as he went on. "So what are you going to do if Max never wakes up?" every one else seemed a little taken aback at this, not sure how to respond. Iggy looked as if he was remembering what he said this morning and giving up all over again. Gazzy couldn't look Jeb in the eye and kept his gaze down cast. Angel and Nudge looked as if they were trying to blend into the bed and disappear forever. I was fuming.

"That's not going to happen." I growled. "Max is better than that. I know she's in there somewhere, and I know she's not going to give up. She's going to get better, and she's going to live." This seemed to restore the others' confidence a little and I resisted a smirk of triumph. "You can count on it."

* * *

I left Max's side but once to be delivered the news. I was right there, holding her hand, as Dr. Martinez did her own examination. I tried to imagine she could feel my hand touching her hand, holding it tightly, and that some how she'd feel the warmth of my skin on hers and follow it back to me. But she never stirred, and much to my dismay, Dr. Martinez came to the same conclusions and gave the same diagnoses as the doctors of this hospital had. Max was dead. Or at least she would be if it weren't for the tubes in her chest forcing oxygen to her lungs.

I remember every detail of the worst five minutes of my life. It felt as if the world had ceased to spin and time itself stopped. Everything just kind of melded together in a slow blur, drawing out every painful second until I almost couldn't bare it any longer. I had expected Dr. Martinez to come back and tell us what she had found herself. But when she never returned, and when Jeb pulled Iggy and I out of the room and into an empty waiting room, I knew something was wrong.

"Where's Dr. Martinez? Does she have the test results yet?" I asked as we walked into the room and Jeb shut the door behind us. I looked around taking in every detail. In one corner there was a ratty looking love seat made to have a homey feel with a soft blanket draped over the back and worn arm rest covers, a coffee table adorned with every magazine from two months ago and last Sunday's newspaper sprawled across it messily to hide the coffee rings that stained the hardwood finish, unused coasters on a similar side table with a lamp that had you taken the shade off could double as a bright purple flower vase, two matching recliners were opposite the couch one with a broken handle, and a TV way up on the wall in the corner so everyone in the room could see it, right now it was on a music channel and Taylor Swift danced across the screen in a flowing ball gown, her muted voice singing the words to some song I didn't care to know. Wooden chairs with red cushions and backings, much like the one Gazzy was always in back in Max's room, lined the opposite two walls with a little square coffee table between every two chairs and magazines and newspapers furnishing each one.

And in the very far corner, between two red chairs, was one of those very tables with another purple vase lamp and one single book centered there neatly. It looked old and worn and very… humble, if it's possible for a book to be humble. Its deep burgundy leather cover was faded and the title was almost impossible to read. I wandered over to it with out thinking and took it up into my hands gently. I felt Jeb's eyes on me watching me sadly, I suspect he was trying to find the words to break the news to us, I decided to stall as long as possible. And to be honest I was rather intrigued by this book, it was almost as if it was drawing me to it.

I carefully, as if I were handling something very precious and fragile, opened the rather thick book to a random page in the middle. It crackled and settled neatly into the bent binding. I examined the very thin pages lifting one very carefully between my finger and thumb. It was crisp and a little faded from use, almost see through, but the words couldn't be easier to read. Tiny thick bold letters filled almost every inch of each page front to back, separated into numbered passages and verses, I think that's what the people who read these call them. I laid the page down softly and flipped to the front of the book. I found the index and read through all the names, I found the title page and read the title. The Holy Bible.

I closed it immediately and set it back down on the table. I didn't believe in God, never have, and never will. If there were really a God, then he must have some twisted sense of humor. People say he's a just and righteous God who loves everybody. What a load of horse shit. If that were true would we have been stolen at birth and grafted into monsters, treated like lab rats, hunted and beaten? I don't believe for a second any _just_ or _righteous _God would let this happen to a bunch of _kids. _If God really cared about us, cared about Max, she wouldn't have been tortured and raped and on her death bed while the perv who did this to her is still out there running wild. Where's the justice in that huh!? God was just some myth a bunch of desperate losers made up to make themselves feel better about their crappy lives.

"Fang, Iggy," Jeb's quiet voice snapped me back down to Earth. I turned away from The Bible and looked him straight in the eye.

"Where is Dr. Martinez?" I asked again. "Does she know when Max is going to wake up or not?" Jeb replied with silence. He shifted his gaze, unable to face the fierceness I burned into my eyes.

"I don't like the sound of that." Iggy said and I could tell he was worried, probably felt the same uneasiness about this situation that I did. We both feared the worst. Once again I knew what Jeb was going to say before he even said it, I felt my heart begin to slowly sink into my stomach and boil with pain. Jeb finally took a deep breath, scratching the back of his head and letting it out slowly.

"Valencia… I sent her home to be with Ella and to rest for a little while… She'll be back." Jeb said slowly at first.

"What about Max? What did she find out about Max?" I pressed again. Jeb closed his eyes and shook his head. He muttered something to himself before going on.

"Max… Max has sustained a serious amount of shock. If you compile all that she went through and the dehydration and over doses it's a wonder her body didn't give out sooner." He said. Yeah, yeah, ok, I've heard all this before, I get it. Max is in bad shape, should be dead, but she _isn't, _I think I've pretty much got that drilled permanently into my skull, as thick as it is.

"Tell us something we don't know." I growled getting impatient.

"When she shot you, the neurological pathways in her brain short circuited for a brief second causing her body to shut down completely for only a moment. But one second was all it took. Her brain never fully recovered and it can't send messages to the rest of her body to keep her alive. Max is… brain dead." Jeb finished. I watched Iggy's eyes get wider and wider with every word that was said until I thought for sure they would pop right of their sockets. Then slowly he closed his eyes, his jaw taut and rigid, turning his face away as it screwed up in pain.

"Sit down Iggy," I ordered calmly. Iggy had a little trouble stumbling over to a chair and sinking into it, dropping his head into his hands. I guess even when you've given up, being told straight out by someone else that it was hopeless, was still heart breaking. I looked back at Jeb with a hard stare. "You're sure about this?" I asked. He nodded. "You're absolutely positive that there weren't any mistakes made, maybe you missed something? That's happened before right?"

"Fang…" Jeb said in a strained voice. "What you said before... About Max still being in there, somewhere…" he shook his head again and I could tell he was trying very hard to keep his voice from cracking. "Max is gone."

I felt my breath catch in my throat at those words and everything inside me just exploded. All of my senses seemed to heighten by one hundred percent and the world around me slowed to a halt, and then shattered. I felt my legs turn to Jello beneath me and my knees shook slightly as I struggled to stay standing. I stared at the ground, my gaze impassive as ever, and gulped back the lump in my throat. _It can't be true. _I thought as my heart thudded in my chest and my stomach churned and boiled in agony. My skin grew cold and tiny goose bumps rose on my bare arms. My eyes began to sting with withheld tears and I blinked them back as my vision blurred and the ground fell further and further away from me.

I nodded. "I'll tell the others." I muttered. Iggy was silent, but I could almost feel the intensity of his pain doubling over with mine. I didn't need to tell him to stay here, he wasn't getting up. And even if he wanted to he wouldn't have had the strength to walk back to Max's room. I wasn't sure if _I _had the strength to get there. I was afraid if I tried to move my feet my knees would buckle under all the weight that had pounded down on me in the last couple seconds. But I needed to be strong. For the Flock.

"Fang, maybe you should stay here, sit down for a bit." Jeb suggested looking worried.

"I'm fine." I insisted and tested out my stability. I took a hesitant step and found, to my surprise, that I stayed standing. So I made my way to the door. Jeb didn't try and stop me, and he followed me closely back to the hospital room.

_Angel… Can you hear me? _I asked as we made our way down the hall.

_Yes._ Came her small voice.

_Stay out of my head for a while. Ok? _I said. I didn't need her reading my thoughts and adding to the pain that was yet to come.

_Fang what's going on?_ She asked.

_Just do it Angel. Please… Just stay out of my head. _

_ Ok…_ she agreed rather hesitantly at last. And just like that she was gone and together Jeb and I entered the room, prepared to crush them all into little tiny pieces.

* * *

I had never seen those kids cry so hard. When I told them that Max wasn't waking up, after the shock settled, it was all downhill from there. Angel burst into tears first and shook her head vigorously. Crying out, screaming that I was wrong, that it wasn't true, I was lying, and that she hated me, as she jumped from the bed and ran into my arms. I knelt down and held her as close to me as I possibly could, burying my face in her soft golden hair as she cried her little eyes out into my shoulder. Another lump formed in my throat and I was finding it harder and harder not to cry myself. After a moment a realized Total had made his whimpering way over to us and was pressing against Angel's little leg, trying to comfort her and keep from blubbering.

I looked up at Nudge who was crying into a pillow, her shoulders trembling in tremendous sobs. She shook her head into the pillow muttering no, no, no, no, no. Her fingers clenched the pillow tightly, so tightly they were beginning to shake. Gazzy merely stared at the ground from his chair the tears pouring freely and silently from his eyes. Watching them fall apart was killing me. I made Jeb take them to the waiting room with Iggy to spend the night there. When he asked where I was going to sleep I answered,

"I'm not leaving Max." And I couldn't face the others in all this grief. I kinda just needed some time alone.

When the kids had been taken from the room I approached Max's bed. I stared down at her. Just looking at her, it was hard to believe it was even her. She was so small and her body all mangled and cold and dead and lifeless. The grotesque tube that protruded from her chest didn't make it any better either. And every beep of the monitors and the pumping from the breathing machine were constant, painful reminders that those beautiful brown eyes would never again open. I would never see her smile or see the love in her eyes; I would never again hear her laugh.

I hardly noticed the first tears rolling down my cheeks and landing softly on her limp hand. My vision began to blur again and my heart clenched tightly. Finally my legs gave out and I fell into the chair behind me. I reached out and clenched her hand as tight as I could, refusing to let her go. Every memory I had of her flashed before me in that moment, from the years in the dog crate next to her, to the life we had in that house, to the journey we took to save Angel, destroy Itex, and save the world. I saw our entire life flash before my eyes and before I could stop my self I was crying, harder than all of the others put together. I squeezed her hand tighter and cried out her name.

"Max!" I pressed her hand to my face as my entire body began to tremble. I never thought for a moment there was any pain in this world that could make me break down like this. No amount of torture, no amount of physical pain could do this to me. Not even death. Had it been _anyone _else… Nothing else could shake me to the core. I could live with the world ending. But Max _was _my world. I couldn't live without her. "Please… please don't…" I shook my head clenching my jaw and squeezing my eyes shut as I held her hand. "Don't leave me, God damn it!" I cried. I collapsed over her and cried into her until I was so exhausted I couldn't even keep my eyes open. "I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry…" I muttered as darkness slowly seeped into my mind.

* * *

_"¿Me oyes? Estoy recibiendo a través de esta noche?"_ A soft musical voice drifted to me through the darkness. _"¿Puedes vernos? ¿Se puede hacer todo bien? Si hay Dios."_ Slowly I felt myself gaining consciousness again._"__¿Pueden otorgar esta petición? Es todo lo que pido. De una chica que no pasó la prueba. ¿Se salvará? ¿Puedes llevarla de este dolor?"_ As I started to regain my focus I tried to concentrate on the voice that was pulling me back. I could have sworn I've heard it somewhere before, and yet, it didn't make any sense._"__Sé que son como todo el mundo. Miedo de enfrentar en esta vergüenza. Pero yo estoy aquí a Dios. Aunque me tomó mucho tiempo."_ I slowly pried my eyes open. Bright sunlight flooded through the crack in my eyelids and blinked a few times to clear my vision. _"Y estoy escuchando. Pero ella no puede soportarlo más. ¿Se puede salvarla? Oh Dios, por favor. Es sólo una pequeña petición. Desde. Me.__"_I looked up at the small Hispanic girl standing on the other side of Max's bed in a long hospital gown clinging to the bar of her IV stand. She caught my eye and smiled sadly at me.

"Good morning Fang." Another familiar voice whispered. I looked over and at my side stood Valencia Martinez. I nodded to her wearily and tried to sit up straight. But my body felt so sluggish after all that crying last night. She looked a little hesitant, her eyes strained and tired and full of sorrow, before she nodded toward the girl who had been singing. "D- do you know this girl?" she asked. "I ran into her and a nurse making their way here, she says she knows you, and Max, that Max… saved her life."

I nodded half heartedly feeling very numb. "Esperanza." I muttered. Hearing her name Esperanza glanced up from Max as she continued singing softly. She was defiantly a weird one. "She was with Max when we found her." I informed Dr. Martinez. "She doesn't speak English."

"I know." Martinez replied a lone tear making its way down her cheek as she absorbed this new information.

"You mean you understand what she's saying?" I asked. Martinez let out a small sarcastic snort of laughter.

"Of course I do. Spanish is my native tongue, remember?" oh yeah. Duh. I don't think you could have a more Spanish name than Valencia Martinez. I looked around. The others were still in the waiting room and it was just me, Martinez, Esperanza, and Max. The only sound was Esperanza's soft voice. I turned and stared at her, studying her for a moment.

"What's she saying?" I asked as she started into the song for the third time.

_"¿Me oyes? Estoy recibiendo a través de esta noche?__¿Puedes vernos? ¿Se puede hacer todo bien?__" _She sang. Dr. Martinez took a shaky breath and another tear escaped her dull eyes. She closed her eyes listening to the sweet melody and concentrating on the words. Then, as Esperanza started into it a fourth time, Martinez sang along.

"Can you hear me? Am I getting through tonight? Can you see us? Can you make it all alright? If you're there God. Can you grant this one request? It's all I'm asking. From a girl who failed the test. Will you save her? Can you take her from this pain? I know we're just like everyone. Afraid to face you in this shame. But I'm here God. Though it took me a long time. And I'm listening. But she can't take this anymore. Can you save her? Oh God please. It's just a small request. From. Me." I stared intently at the child as I listened to her song. It was a prayer. She was praying, for Max.

A part of me felt a little angered by this. Here was this girl who didn't know anything about Max or the rest of us, praying to a God who didn't exist, praying in a hopeless situation. Who did she think she was? But then there was another part of me… That kind of felt honored. I didn't believe in God. And I didn't believe prayer would help. Not at this point. But this little girl believed with all her heart. And in a way, that was kinda cool. I guess. That she had something to hold onto so strongly. I'd never had that before. I'd never actually seen it before. I didn't even know it existed.

"Do you know what Esperanza means, Fang?" Martinez asked interrupting my thoughtless wandering. I turned my eyes up to her and shook my head. "It means Hope." She said her voice cracking and the tears falling one by one.

Hope. After last night… even I had lost all hope. But some how, this girl, though as childish as it was, she had hope that her God would help Max. That took guts. Guts I didn't have anymore. _Who in the world is this girl?_

I was pulled once again from my thoughts as Martinez sniffed and reached out to push some hair from Max's face. She closed her eyes, trying to contain herself. "The doctors have asked me to make a decision. Tomorrow I'm having them take her off life support."

"No! She'll die!" I protested jumping to my feet. I towered over the petite doctor but she didn't back down. She looked me in the eye and every bit of pain that she was feeling reflected in her eyes, mirroring my own.

"She's already dead. If it weren't for this machine she wouldn't be breathing. Her heart would stop beating." Martinez explained. "She. Is. Gone. Fang. There's nothing we can do about it." She said as the tears began to build in her eyes once more. I felt Esperanza watching us sadly. There was a long silence. I caught movement in the corner of my eye. Martinez and I both whipped around in shock.

"Esperanza no!" Martinez shouted as the girl reached for the machine that was feeding Max oxygen. "What are you doing!?" I knew exactly what she was doing.

"No!" I lunged over Max's body leaning over, trying to reach it before Esperanza did. But her finger was already on the switch. "No!" I cried again. She flipped it off. My heart stopped. My gaze snapped up to the monitor that showed Max's life line. It went flat. The beep droned. I watched the line slip across the screen until it was completely flat. No… Max can't be dead… No, no, no, no, no, no, no! NO! "MAX!"

* * *

**Please be extra forgiving of any grammatical errors. It's midnight for Christ's sake, give a girl a break.**

**P.S.**

**Just to get this out of the way. My religious preference? I'm a very strong Christian. Sorry if that offends you, if it does, grow up, get a life, and quite being so sensitive.**

**Jesus Loves You! (And all that silly sunshiny stuff. T.T)**

**LOL(Lots of Love)**

**Flock-Member7  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okidoki. Here it is! Chapter 11! Woo! Now, this one is a little bit shorter. I could have made it longer but I felt that it needed to end with a heart wrenching 'Awe poor Fang what's he going to do now?" moment. GASP! I've given it away! Shame on me!**

**Thank you all for your reviews! They mean so much to me!**

**WARNING: Minor lemons. Not very detailed.**

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Thanks so much for reading!  
**

* * *

"MAX!" I cried again. "Damn it!" I whipped my face around to Esperanza with a death glare. "Why did you do that?! You killed her!"

"Fang calm down!" Martinez ordered. But I didn't hear her. I was blind with rage and ready to tear that pathetic ungrateful little murderer apart. Esperanza took a small step back, a flash of fear in her eyes. She cast her eyes down for a moment then looked back up into mine. I felt tears sting my eyes again and I struggled to breathe. This was unreal, Max was dead, that can't be possible.

"She saved you're life damn it! And you killed her!" I growled menacingly. But Esperanza didn't waver or look away. Her eyes were apologetic, but she wasn't sorry for what she did. She pitied me because of the pain she caused me, but she wasn't sorry. She looked like she knew something. Something I didn't know or understand. Something she wanted me to understand, but could not tell me. A precious secret she shared with a precious someone. A precious secret that needed to be known… but could not be told. I went numb, just looking into her deep brown eyes. My rage slipped away and was replaced by a feeling of hopelessness. _What is it about her that makes me so uneasy? What does she know that is so important? _I shook my head and buried my face in the thin white hospital sheets that covered Max's dead body and let my tears soak into it. "Max…" I whispered into the silence.

I was so wrapped up in my sorrow that I hadn't noticed the familiar rhythmic beeping of the machines that monitors her heart. As I listened to the silence and was absorbed by my own helpless thoughts I slowly became aware of the life bringing noise. But it meant nothing to me.

"Her heart is beating again…" Martinez said in the same uninspired tone that I was feeling at the moment. I turned my head to look up at Max's face from where I was laying against her legs. I wasn't going to get my hopes up. I knew the cause for her heart to be beating, and I knew it wouldn't last long.

"Her body is drawing the last bits of oxygen from her air sacks as a desperate last attempt to save itself." I mumbled. I waited for the drone of the beep to kick in again and the line to go flat once more. I stared at the screen with the little green line across it. I watched the erratic ups and downs that reflected the very subtle beating of her heart. I remembered I had always hated that machine. They had them at the School. I remember wishing on several occasions when I was hooked up to one that the line would just go flat and end the torture, but I knew it never would. It was the one thing I had desired to see most in that time of darkness. Now I was falling into a new darkness. I still hated that machine more than anything in the world at that moment. But now I was dreading seeing that line straighten out like I knew it would. I closed my eyes. I just couldn't watch it any more.

_I stared at the stupid screen. I had been watching it off and on for hours. But it never changed. Not the way I wanted it to. I saw the rhythm of my own heart with my eyes, heard it with my ears. I wanted it to be over, I wanted the screen to go blank… but it never did. _

_ Suddenly my body lurched off the mettle table again, pain stabbed into my heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys, and liver all at once. I felt each of them scream in agony individually. _No, not again! Please! Make it stop!_ My jaw was burning too, but not from the high voltage electrical currants surging through my body. I wanted to scream, cry out for it to stop. The pain was unbearable, I wanted to die, just end it all. But I wouldn't give them that pleasure._

_ They wanted to hear me scream. I was the quiet one. We were all quiet, well except maybe the youngest one, but she was only six, she'd grow out of it. But I hardly said a word except maybe to the others. I never gave the Whitecoats the reward of seeing me express the pain they intentionally inflicted day after day after day after day. So they pushed me to my limits. They wanted to see just how much torture I could withstand before I finally caved in. I guess they'd never know. I was going to die a thousand deaths before I gave them what they wanted._

_ I breathed hard through my clenched teeth, squeezing my eyes shut tightly as the pain slowly subsided and my body lowered itself back onto the cold table. My chest rose and fell rapidly and the cursed machine beeped louder and faster than before. But it calmed down right along with me as I struggled to steady my breathing and slow my racing heart. _

_Staying alive was an everyday battle we all worked so hard to fight. Everything we did, said, or reacted to had a consequence for both us, and those bastards in the white lab coats. Some of the smarter Whitecoats tried to reason with us. Tell us that if we just gave them what they wanted our lives would be so much easier. But we were smarter than that. Like hell it'd be easier. What a load of bull. We knew better. Even if we did do everything they told us to do and reacted the way we're supposed to, even if we gave them the information they were trying to gather from us, it would never stop the torture. There would always be another test, another experiment, something more they wanted to find. It never ended. And they sure as hell did everything short of picking our brains apart with a tooth pick. So we made sure we did everything in our power to make their job that much harder on them. But we were always afraid of what was around the corner, believing that any day now they'd get bored of us like they had with so many others before and after us. The new version of Erasers just came out. If they were planning on using us to test out their new toys- I shiver just thinking about what would happen to us then._

_My back arched high again and the pain erupted through out my body, intensified ten fold. _STOP!!! PLEASE! Just make it stop! _I wanted to scream. If they did this anymore my heart would surely give out. If only. The pain seemed to last for an eternity. I was aloud only a moment of rest before it exploded all over again. Each time it was getting harder than the last to with hold a cry of pain. As I settled back down and worked to prepare myself for the next wave of electricity I glared at the monitor again, breathing rapidly. Darkness began to rim the edges of my vision and I could taste the sweet metallic taste of blood. It welled in my mouth and I had to release my jaw and open it to keep from drowning in my own blood. I coughed and the blood sputtered all over the place. I felt like crap. And I was having a hard time catching my breath this time. I watched the line on the screen jump up and down crazily, making my head spin, or that could have just been from the electric shocks I'd been receiving for the past three hours._

_ "Amazing." Came an unfamiliar voice. Footsteps summoned the return of the monsters behind the glass, watching my torture session. "We made it up to sixty five volts within three hours and subject two still hasn't shown any signs of distress. Do you think it can even feel it?"_

Of course I can feel it you idiot! And it freaking hurts! _I thought silently. _

_ "How old is this subject?" asked another voice._

_ "We've had it for nine years now. It's gotten the fewest results so far but it has proven to be useful in some areas." The first voice answered. They were both men, the first one sounded younger than the other. But I didn't care to look. I kept my face calm and impassive just staring at the heart monitor and watching the hyper line slowly calm down, and listening to the Whitecoats. _

_ "Who is overseeing the care of the subjects in the avian division?" asked the older man._

_ "That would be… Dr. Howard, sir." _

_ "Hmmm… Very well. Alert Dr. Howard that their care has been turned over to me, effective immediately. That's an order from the Director."_

_ "Yes sir, Dr. Batchelder sir." There were hasty footsteps leaving the room and then the older man approached where I was strapped by my ankles and wrists to the cool mettle examining table. I shifted my eyes to meet his in a nasty glare as he leaned over me and smiled warmly._

_ "Hello Fang."_

"Fang?...... Fang?..... Fang look!" Some one was shaking my shoulder vigorously. I hadn't really been sleeping, just kind of, daydreaming I guess. Remembering stupid stuff from my past, just trying to get my mind off the dead girl I was in love with. And I hadn't been daydreaming very long, maybe a couple minutes, tops. But I had completely blocked out my surroundings, I stopped listening to the heart monitor and let everything just fade away. Now I was being forced back into a more painful reality than that I had been remembering. I opened my eyes to look up at Dr. Martinez. "Fang… it's been almost five minutes and her heart is still beating." She said in barely a whisper.

_What!? _I sat up straight and watched the screen my eyes widening for a moment. The beeping and the jumping line had changed from a small murmur to a more regular steady beat. I couldn't believe my eyes. It had to be some mistake. Max was dead, I watched her die! My heart began to race wildly. I whipped around and pressed my ear to Max's chest, careful not to disturb the tube still surgically inserted into the side of her chest. I closed my eyes and listened carefully.

My eyes snapped open and I jumped to my feet. Her heart was beating on its own, she was breathing on her own. She was alive! There was still a chance!

"Oh my god." Martinez breathed behind me. But I hardly heard her. I reached for Max's hand again and gripped it in my own. It was warm. There was color returning to her cheeks. I don't think I had ever been happier in my life. Was this real? Could Max really still be alive? _Oh God, if there is a God, please let it be so._

"Max." I muttered. I gripped her hand gently and watched her face for any signs of her waking up. "Max can you hear me?" I said a little louder. "Please…" I couldn't keep the strain from my voice as I pleaded for her to be ok. "Please wake up."

* * *

"MAX!" I heard the cry. It pierced through the darkness like broken glass. There was so much pain in that one word. The voice was almost unrecognizable. But I knew who it was. I heard his agony and the sadness as he screamed my name. I remember the last time he said my name to me. His voice was so different then, so gentle, so full of love and passion. I remember thinking how no one could say my name like he could. It gave me butterflies just thinking about it. "MAX!" But now it was the worst sound I had ever heard in my life. There was so much pain in it. I wanted to reach out, break through the darkness and touch him, comfort him, tell him I was ok. But my muscles refused to respond to my commands. I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't get to him. "Damn it! Why did you do that!? You killed her!" So much anger.

"Fang calm down!" _Was that? Was that my mother?_ I could hear her! She was here too! _Come on, move stupid body! Anything, a finger wiggle, anything please, just move._ But try as I might, I couldn't do a dang thing.

"She saved your life damn it! And you killed her!" There was a long silence. I felt pressure on my legs. Then a small bud of moisture warmed my skin. "Max…" I wanted more than anything to tell them I was alive. I wanted to scream. _I'm here! I'm alive! Please, don't be sad. _But nothing was working! And it was getting pretty freaking aggravating. I willed my body to move, or my eyes to open. I was trying so hard. I felt my body weakening with just the tiny effort it took to _want _to move. My eyes were already closed and it was already so dark, and I was just so tired. I blacked out.

"Max…" A soft voice pulled me back. I felt something tightening around my hand. "Max can you hear me? Please…" his voice was so tight, so sad. "Please wake up." I wanted to. Oh believe you me. I wanted to wake up so bad. This had to be the worst nightmare in the history of all freaking nightmares. I could hear him, feel him, _smell _him, but I couldn't respond. It was worse than when I was being held in that holding tank. I couldn't move or see anything then, it was all nothingness. But I also couldn't hear or feel anything. Now, I was so close to him and I just couldn't quite reach him. It was torture! I'd end up losing my mind! I wanted to see him. I wanted to see his face.

I tried once more. To open my eyes. I managed a flutter. I was so close! I heard gasps from three separate familiar voices. _Oh for heavens sake_. _Open your eyes Max. _I growled at myself. Warmth spread up my whole arm as his hard calloused hand gripped mine tighter, not enough to hurt me, but just enough to get his silent meaning across. But it was all I needed. The warmth trickled into my stomach and heated my entire body like furnace in the center of a room. Feeling started to return to my limbs and muscles. This would have been a good thing except I had forgotten how banged up I was. Places I didn't even know I had hurt on my body began to throb. And of course there was the overwhelming cramp in my mid section. It was enough to make me want to curl up in a ball and scream!

At the same time however, I was feeling a little bit better. I no longer felt like I'd be seeing my stomach sprawled out across the floor any second and my head had ceased to spin. My wings still hurt, but not like they were being ripped from my body. And then there was my hand. Not the one with the broken wrist that was burning in pain. But the one that I could feel him cling to, lace his fingers with mine and then cup it in his other so that it was completely surrounded by his gentle hands, burning with desire. Burning hot with the desire to reach out and hold his back. If I could just… move… my fingers. I used all of my will power and strength to tighten my fingers around his, just a tiny bit.

This little bit of movement got quite the reaction out of him. One I hadn't been expecting. One that threw me way off guard. I felt him lift my hand to his lips and kiss my knuckles gently. A single warm droplet fell between the creases of our entwined fingers, followed by another, and another, until our hands were slick and clammy from his tears. Was Fang… crying? For me?

_He loves you Max. _

_Ah the triumphant return of my all omniscient Voice from above. Where the hell have you been?_ Alright! Score! Voice was back and I was feeling snappy again. Now if only I could open my eyes and leap into the arms of the man I love, this day would be perfect! It is day right?

_ Good to have you back. _The voice chuckled with amusement.

_You haven't answered my question. _I snapped trying to keep the overwhelming joy and relief I was feeling right now from my thoughts.

_ I never left you. Not even for a second. Even if you couldn't hear me, I was working to get you home._

_ Fang. _I thought. Somehow, I don't know how, but somehow the Voice had reached Fang, the _real _Fang, and lead him to me.

_That's right._

_Alright Max. Time to pull it together. _I told myself trying to gather all of my energy. I needed to open my eyes. I needed to see his face. I needed to tell him I was sorry and tell him that I love him. I know it sounds all sappy, but when a girl comes back from the dead, it's hard for her to be anything but _happy._ I could feel him holding my hand, trying to pull me back. I could feel the desperation in his touch. I had hurt him bad. Worse than I could have ever thought possible, and I needed to be ok for him, I needed him to be ok.

So I poured all my soul into it. I had to do it. Slowly. I managed another flutter. Ever. He tightened his grip once more. So. I heard my mother whisper my name. Slowly. This was it. I pried my eyes open.

"Max." The harsh beam of the hospital lights bore down on me and I squinted trying to adjust to the brightness. Everything was all fuzzy and I could hardly make out the blobs that hovered over my line of sight. Now that I had gained control of my eyes I blinked a few times to clear the blurriness. The small dark girl I had come to be friends with, the one whose life I saved, was smiling at me brightly. My mother, a face I had missed _so _much, was in tears, staring at me with relief and shock and utter disbelief all rolled into one giant emotion. She sure was a sight for sore eyes.

I slowly moved my gaze to the one I had desired most to see. I took in the sharpness of his features and the darkness of his eyes and hair. He looked so worried and pained. But there was a twinkle of hope in his eyes I didn't miss. His face was so familiar.

My heart clenched in fear.

I didn't feel the swell of love and passion I had hoped I would feel when I finally saw him. I didn't want to kiss him or hold him. I didn't even want him touching me. I felt panicked. My heart began to race at the sight of him because instead of seeing my best friend, I saw that monster.

_"Max?" My eyes flew open. _Th-that voice!_ My heart started to race. _I know that voice! I-It couldn't be! _I slowly shifted my eyes to look at the figure in my doorway. It was too dark to make out the details of his sharp face. A face I knew as well as my own. I could only make out his familiar shape. He came closer to me. He had something in his hands. I stared at him wide eyed. _Couldit be? Is it really him?

"_Max, it's ok now. Don't be afraid." He said in his smooth, deep, hard voice. I didn't hear it very often but it had become a voice that I loved. A voice that always knew exactly what to say. _His_ voice. He stepped closer and the fragment of cool light from the window illuminated a portion of him. I could see his hands. They were rough and calloused, but I knew them as very soft and gentle hands. Hands that had held me when I cried, hands that had wiped the tears and held me steady. _

_He took another cautious step. I could see his eyes. His deep dark eyes. Eyes that were as hard as his voice but at the same time as soft as his hands. Eyes that I had found myself staring into a countless number of times. Eyes that held no emotion, except for when he looked at me. I loved it when he looked at me. I loved him._

"_F-Fang?" I whispered in disbelief and shock. A tender smile teased at the corner of his lips and he nodded. Was that malice I saw flicker in his eyes? No, it couldn't be. It was gone as soon as it had been there. It couldn't have been there at all._

"_Yes Max, I'm here now." I hardly noticed as he placed the silver tray on the bedside table. I felt relief flood my entire body as he unlocked the cuffs from my ankles and wrists. Strangely I didn't feel at all self conscious or ashamed that I was completely _naked _in front of him. I was just so happy he was here. He was here to save me. And besides, I was mostly covered by the blanket anyways. _

_I didn't move. I just didn't have the strength to. I looked up at Fang as he sat on the edge of my bed. I don't think I had ever been happier to see him. But joyful reunions would have to wait. We were still in the heart of danger._

"_Fang, we need to get out of here." I whispered. He replied by shaking his head shushing me softly. He gave me a warm smile and at once I knew I was safe._

"_It's ok Max. You're safe now. You need to relax." That was just the kind of thing he'd say. Relax Max._

"_But-" I tried to protest as he shushed me again and hovered a fork in front of my face._

"_Here, you need to eat something." He replied. Now I was a little bit worried. Fang was acting strange. Eat? At a time like this? Are you kidding me? I was about to snap at him for his lack of seriousness for this desperate situation when he shoved the food into my mouth. It tasted amazing! I hadn't eaten in who knows how long, and the moment the food reached my tongue I felt the hunger finally start to catch up with me. He fed me slowly because I was having a hard time chewing, until the plate was cleaned. And it was amazing how much better a little food in your stomach can make you feel. Then Fang stood with his back to me and started fiddling with something in his pocket._

"_Fang?" I asked. As I watched him I realized it wasn't his pocket his hand was in. He turned to me._

"_It's ok, I'm here." Then to my horror, I watched him reach down and unzip his pants. _What the hell!? _I thought as he pulled them down. Fear gripped me and I felt panic sink in as I stared at his huge erection. _Oh my god. _This couldn't be happening. _

"_F-Fang?" I whispered again and he shushed me again as he stepped closer._

"_Just relax Max, this will only hurt… A lot." _

"_No. Please. Fang what are you doing?" _NO! _I froze in sheer terror. _He- he's going to- _I let out a scream as he pinned me to my back forcing my hands above my head with one of his hands and ripping the only shred of fabric between our bare flesh from my body. I looked into his eyes as he stared at me. And there I saw it. Just like before. Just like before when the passion was so strong between us and I felt so much love. I saw the lust and the pleasure in his eyes… just like before. Only this time it sent chills down my spine and made me sick to my stomach. His eyes were so cold. _

_He leaned down over me and covered my mouth with his hand. He pressed his face close to mine and whispered in my ear ever so softly. "I want to hear you scream, bitch." I went rigid when I felt his lips on my neck. My heart raced wildly, but not with excitement or anticipation. I was scared. I couldn't even think straight. _This can't be happening._ He trailed his tongue down my neck and down between my breasts. I shivered and to my horror I felt a wet tingling between my legs. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed. _

_I threw my head back as I felt three of his fingers enter me and pull apart, forcing my wall wide and sending a shooting pain up through my whole body. But I resisted a scream, breathing heavily through my nose past his hand. He moved his fingers inside of me stretching me awhile longer before he pulled away again. I let my chin fall as I tried to catch my breath. He took his hand from my mouth and I panted heavily._

"_Fang please… please stop this." I looked up at him desperately. I didn't understand. What was going on? What drove him to do this to me? I pleaded with my eyes. What he was doing to me hurt and I didn't want this. But all I saw was rage and hate in his eyes and before I could stop him he was inside me. He went so fast I could hardly breathe. He gave me no time to adjust and he broke through the barrier in one shot sending wave after wave of the worse pain imaginable through my body. I screamed. I couldn't help myself. Tears welled in my eyes and I gripped the mattress with my good fist as tight as I could. Then he started to move. He moved inside me fast and hard. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to ignore the pain. But it was too much. He thrust hard and I screamed louder. He hit a spot in the far back over and over and over again until I thought I would go insane. _

_I didn't like this. Not one bit. And he was hurting me. But despite that, I couldn't control the natural reaction my body was having. I screamed again as I arched my back into him and felt my whole body tighten around him. This only made the pain worse. And it encouraged him to go faster. He pumped into me so hard. Over and over and I moaned and cried out in pain, begging him to stop._

_After what felt like ages he slowed. For a moment I thought he was going to pull out, I thought it was finally over. Then he grunted and spilled his seed inside me. Tears stained my cheeks and continued to spill over as I trembled under his weight. I kept my eyes closed, breathing hard, I couldn't look at him. I felt him lifting up out of me and the cold air met my wet skin, sending shivers through my body and freezing me solid. I didn't even notice the prick of the needle as he injected more drugs into my system and left the room. I cried myself to sleep, trying to push the image of his angry face from my mind._

"No! Let go of me!" I shouted pulling my hand from his quickly. The blaring siren of the heart monitor filled my ears as my heart thundered out of control. I couldn't help the panic I felt seeing his face again. I knew it wasn't _him, _but… It was his face. I felt those cursed tears prick my eyes as I stared at him in fear. I could almost feel the regret in my heart when I saw him look back at me with that pained and confused look in his eyes.

"Max-" He tried to reach out for me. I shook my head vigorously my eyes wide in terror.

"No! Don't touch me! Please! Don't touch me anymore!" I cried. Fang stared at me in shock. He looked so hurt. But I couldn't help him. Then he looked away from me. With out a word he got to his feet from where he was sitting in a chair beside my bed. Silently and with out looking at me or anyone else he walked away. My eyes followed him around my bed to the door. And he left. Closing the door behind him. Leaving me alone, trembling in the aftermath of my flashback. I could feel my mother's worried eyes on me and she didn't dare try to touch me. _This is wrong. _I thought. _This is all wrong._ But there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't face Fang ever again. Not after what _he _did to me.


	12. Chapter 12

**Yes I'm still here, i'm still alive, and I'm not done writing. Sorry this has taken so long. You wouldn't believe how crazy my life is right now. I don't know how I even found time to write this, so it probably sucks. But I've been getting alot of reviews and PMs asking when I was going to update a chapter. So here it is. lol. **

**RER (Read, Enjoy, Review) And yes that's an order.**

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When you spend your entire life with someone, be it your sister or brother or very close friend, you come to know them almost as well as you know yourself. And when said person is the love of your life, as wishy washy as that sounds, you find that you know them _so _well that when they are the slightest bit different not only do you notice, but it completely throws your whole life off track. And when a train comes off its tracks, you know there's gunna be a mess.

I knew Max. I knew her better than she knew herself. I knew what made her tick. I knew what made her happy. I knew how to get her fists flying and I knew how to make her melt. I could anticipate her every move and every four moves ahead of that but at the same time, I never knew what was coming next. I can understand a little change. I can understand _a lot _of change. After what she'd been through, I knew I'd have to relearn everything about her again, and I knew she'd never be the same. I expected it. I was ready for it. And I was ready to stand by her side all the way through it. But I never expected this.

Max had practically died in my arms. I watched her fade away and thought my own life was coming to an end. The thought of losing her, to never again see her smile or to hold her that was heart breaking, literally heart breaking. And when she lived, I had never been so relieved in my life. It was like the entire weight of the world was being lifted from my chest and I could breathe again. Losing her was hard and getting her back was wonderful, but the look on her face when she saw me, was unbearable.

Maximum Ride knows no fear, and if she did, you could bet your life she'd never let _you _know she was scared. Max met fear head on and told fear where to shove it. Fear, only fueled Max's drive. The few glimpses I've caught from her in a moment of sheer panic were short lived and quickly replaced by red hot rage. Moments like this almost always ended with bloody pulp, what was left of the sorry asses that crossed her or her family. That was the Max I knew. I never thought the day would come when Maximum Ride could be physically taken over by her fear. Can you imagine my shock when the source of that fear, was me?

Max… was afraid of me. When I touched her she shrank away like my hand was on fire. She screamed in terror and begged me not to touch her. She couldn't meet my eyes and she trembled under my gaze. Like a mouse. That was not the Max I knew. How could that be? How could she be afraid of me? Me! What had I ever done to make her break down like that? I didn't understand it. And the look in her eyes… she might as well have been dead after all.

I didn't know what to do. So I left. I made my way blindly back down the hall to where the rest of my family was. I hadn't seen them since I broke the news to them that Max was going to die. They had probably cried themselves to sleep sprawled out on the couches or curled up in a chair while I stayed by Max's side. How was I going to tell them that Max was alive? It should be easy! I should have been able to fly through the door and proclaim loudly. "Hey! Guess what! Max is alive!" There should have been tears of joy and cheering and the running in the halls to get to Max. There should have been hugs and kisses and all that lovey dovey nonsense. I should be happy. Instead it was the same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I learned of Max's rape and when I thought she was going to die. And I found as I stood motionless outside the door to the waiting room, that I had no words to tell them the wonderful news.

I listened for sounds on the other side that would indicate life as I leaned my forehead against the hardwood frame and pressed my palm to its surface. The noises muffled by the thick door reached my superhuman ears and I made them out effortlessly. The T.V. was on and Shark Tale was playing quietly on the screen. The low volume probably meant that the only one who had been paying any attention to it at some point or another was Iggy. Either that or most of them were still asleep, but I highly doubted that. I heard the crisp sound of a page turning; Nudge was reading a fashion magazine. The soft voices of Total and Angel talking amongst themselves were drowned out by a sudden throaty cough from the Gasman. It was too quiet.

"Fang?" Angel's alarmed voice spoke up no doubt drawing the others' attention. "What's wrong?" I took a deep breath gripping the door knob firmly in my hand and pushing the door open. I stepped in and let the heavy door close behind me on its own. All eyes had turned to me now. I could even feel Iggy's blind gaze glued to me with purpose, if I tried to step out from under it his eyes would surely follow. But I could not meet any of them. I stared at the floor still grappling with how to address the issue of Max's resurrection. I couldn't see myself but I was sure my face resembled that of my usual stony disposition that I worked so hard to attain. I didn't say a word, keeping quiet was another thing I was good at. I was pretty confident that I appeared as I normally do. Yet somehow, maybe it was because I was standing so still in one place, not moving to sit or even lean against a wall, somehow they drew the wrong conclusion.

I looked up when Angel suddenly burst into tears. Nudge's magazine slipped from her knees from where she was sitting in a chair near one of the purple lamps, and hit the floor. Total, who had crawled directly into Angel's lap when they all came to the same realization, let Angel bury her face in his coal black fur. Iggy and Gazzy stayed very quiet. Igs was lying on the couch and had turned his head and body around to put his attention on me when I came in. Now he plopped back down facing away from every one else without a word. Gazzy sniffed and wiped a few stray tears on the sleeve of his two sizes too big hoodie, his hands hidden inside the long fabric. They all thought Max was dead.

"You- you can't mean… Max is…" Nudge struggled to choke out. She couldn't even finish the sentence. My eyes widened and I held up my hands.

"Woah, calm down. Max isn't dead." I assured them. Angel's crying quieted a little and all eyes were on me once again, except Iggy's. I let out a big puff of air and looked back at the ground again, scratching the back of my head. "She's… awake."

"What!?" Iggy exclaimed whipping around again too quickly this time, sending him flying from the couch. He hit the floor with a thud but was on his feet in seconds. At first everyone was staring at me with a mixture of shock and disbelief, much like what Dr. Martinez and I had experienced. When no one spoke I figured I should probably break the silence before they all went into cardiac arrest. (It's amazing the terminology you pick up around a place like this)

"I don't know what happened." I told them shaking my head. "One minute she was flat lining the next she was breathing on her own. She opened her eyes and was talking and everything." I explained. I left out the part where she had screamed in terror at the sight of me. Silence. _Okay… _I thought. _Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. _I shifted my weight from one foot to the other just watching them. Then, the biggest smile I had ever seen spread across Angel's face and into her eyes. Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears and Total had to jump quickly from her lap as she climbed to her feet.

"Max!" she cried out and ran, throwing the door open, from the room with her faithful dog at her heals. Gazzy and Nudge followed suit, excitement and hope returning to their once dark faces. But Iggy did not move. I turned to Iggy shoving my hands in my pockets.

"Well?" I asked. "Aren't you going to go see her?"

"Aren't you?" he shot back. I looked away.

"I was there when she woke up." I replied trying to cover up my hesitance. Iggy's eyes narrowed and he stayed where he was, obviously unconvinced. Of course he would suspect something. Iggy had like, a sixth sense that made up for his lack of sight. Not very much got past him. I couldn't help but fidget under his discerning stare. It was ironic that the blind guy was the one who could see right through me.

"So then what's keeping you from her now?" He asked. I shook my head, there was no way I was having this conversation with him.

"Why are you standing there judging me? Max's is going to live! You- we should be in there with her." Iggy nodded, hopefully dropping the subject for good, and walked past me out the door. I followed behind him a ways and smirked to myself when his pace picked up. He was just short of running when he took the turn to Max's room and almost didn't have time to open the door before slamming into it. I made it to the room before the door closed, but I did not enter. I stayed in the door way, just watching them.

"Iggy!" Max exclaimed seeing him. Her cheeks were already wet and her eyes red from crying as she reached out and took Iggy into a tight hug. Iggy hugged her softly back, apparently remembering that she was injured and not wanting to break her any further. Angel was already sitting in Max's lap with Total, and the whole lot of them were smiling and crying and hugging in joyful reunion, Martinez included.

"You really scared us Max." Nudge was saying as she wiped her eyes again. "When you never came back we were all like 'something's wrong' and then we just knew we had to find you. Of course I knew something was up right away. I told everyone that you were accidentally shot and kidnapped by a beautiful elven man who whisked you away and you fell in love and got married and lived happily ever after without us, but no one believed me. I can't believe you were all the way in Mexico! How'd you get all the way out there!? Fang was like 'she's in Mexico' and we were all like, 'you're crazy' but then we found you and we were happy at first but then you were hurt and we had to take you to the hospital and then they said you would never wake up! I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life! Not even when Ari died. This is so awesome! I'm so happy you're alive!"

Max laughed at Nudge and I felt my heart skip a beat. She laughed. When Jeb told me she wasn't going to wake up I had thought I would never get to hear her laugh again. And this wasn't a fake, put on your brave face laugh, this was _her _laugh. She was smiling and talking and _laughing _with the others, like nothing had ever happened. All traces of the horror from earlier, gone. Her voice, the sound of her laugh, they were the most beautiful sounds in the world to me. But they seemed so out of reach. I couldn't get the image of her pulling away from me and looking at me with those fear stricken eyes, out of my head. _Why? _I thought. _Why only me? _

"I'm happy I'm alive too Nudge." Max said smiling lovingly at the girl. And she was genuinely happy. Not even fazed when she looked around and didn't see my face among her family. _Why? _

"Yeah well, you know things just wouldn't be the same with out you." Total said nonchalantly.

"Thanks Total." Max replied with a chuckle and a roll of her eyes. Everyone laughed. "Now what's all this about a beautiful elf who wanted to marry me?" Max asked. She must have really missed Nudge to indulge her wild fantasies like that. More laughter from the flock and a groan from Iggy as Nudge started into the _longer_ version of her tale. From the way Angel was staring at Max, absently stroking Total's fur, and the way Max kept shooting the child glances, I could tell there must be a silent conversation under way. Everything was perfect, like a puzzle with missing pieces finally put back together again. Only, somehow, the beautiful picture that it was supposed to make had become distorted… and empty.

I stood in that door way and watched Max and the Flock together until her eyes finally met mine. It was only a brief moment that we locked on to each other but in that moment I saw her eyes flash with fear before she looked away. I ground my teeth together and turned away. I couldn't watch this anymore. Something was missing, something was wrong, this wasn't Max. Not the Max I knew. This wasn't the Max I'd grown up with, the Max in the dog crate next door, the Max in the room just down the hall, the Max asleep with her head on my shoulder, dirty and ragged, exhausted, strong, beautiful, in hiding, running, protecting, living, saving the world one sea sponge at a time. This wasn't the Max I loved.

_

* * *

_

Despite the circumstances, me being mentally and physically drained after several healthy doses of highly charged electrons, forced to compete for room within my body as they erupted mercilessly through thin frayed wires taped to my bare skin. Normally, (just as an extremely unnecessary added safety precaution I'm sure) it took three or four heavily armed (another unnecessary additive), furry faced, brainless Erasers to politely_ escort me back to my dog crate. Two to force me roughly down the halls with one on each side gripping my arms and digging their grimy claws into my bruised skin, one to hold a dart gun to my back, and another to open and close doors and the bars to my cage. But not this time. This time, it was only me and the strange old Dr. walking uneventfully side by side. His oddly and suspiciously gentle hands only ever reaching to touch me when I stumbled or wavered, near fainting._

_No matter how many times I'm paraded down these stalk white hallways I can never seem to quite get my bearings or any kind of mental map of the place. Whether it was due to drugs, or fatigue, or maybe they had somehow developed a way to change the entire layout of the building on a whim. Whatever the case, whenever I expected the door to open and reveal a familiar (or not so familiar) room I was always surprised to find yet another hallway or a new room I was sure I'd never been in before, furnished with yet another form of torture, or experiment. Normally, the way back to my dark and seemingly empty cell would take much longer than it did when I left it. But not this time. This time, the walk was unnaturally short, and had I been half as lucid as I should have been, I'm sure I would have taken more notice and been wary. But instead I was only too relieved when the lock to my crate opened and Dr. Batchelder gently helped me crawl into it._

_I hardly registered the click of the latch relocking or the slow clatter of his fine Italian black leather shoes retreating from the room, quietly closing the door and throwing the room into utter blackness. I didn't pay any attention to the silent stares from my roommates in the cells next to me and I didn't let my eyes adjust to meet them. With my eyes clenched tightly I felt a shiver ricochet down my spine and back up again bringing with it a wave of nausea that ended with the acidic contents of my stomach sprawled in front of me. The room remained silent as I crawled into a small corner, pressing my body uncomfortably against the cold steel bars, as far away from their searing and questioning gazes as possible. I pressed my cheek to the cold metal cage floor and it felt better than any cool breeze of fresh air we were never allowed to breathe on one of the rare and infrequent days they let us out for 'exercise'. A jolt, an aftershock of my experience from the past three hours ripped through my body leaving me in darkness more impenetrable and suffocating than the lightless room around me._

_It took only a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and meet hers when I finally awoke to what I could only assume as the next morning. Our exchange was brief and silent as it always was because that was all that was ever required between us. We could have been Siamese twins in that way if our physical appearances weren't so obviously opposite of the other. My skin was deathly pale clashing with my long black and unkept mop of hair and almost coal black eyes. She was unnaturally tan in this unforgiving darkness with long wavy brown hair and matching chocolate cream eyes. Her face was round and light under the black and blue bruises where as mine was sharp and hard as a stone. But I'd considered her my sister long enough; she was really truly the only one I ever connected with. Not that the others didn't hold some kind of importance, I just didn't see them like I saw her. Family was a strong and unfamiliar concept to us all and I found it hard enough to trust in her as I guessed a brother would trust his twin sister. She didn't ask much of me. All she needed was to know that I was alright. After a quick mental check of all my bodily organs and extremities, a soft nod was all it took to reassure her. I was alive and the nausea was past, that was basically as close to alright as I was going to get. However, it was going to take more than a simple nod to get the others off my back. _

"_Fang, are you ok?" came Nudge's quiet whisper, which was painfully loud in this dark silence. Even though it'd been a year, or maybe two, I found myself still struggling to remember that _I _was Fang. It was the name I had given myself when the four of us first started to really connect with each other. We had all named ourselves but I'd hate to see what we'd name our children (if that fantasy were to ever come true) because we weren't very good at it. There was me, Fang, and Nudge the dark skinned six year old girl, and then there was the only other boy, Iggy, closer to my age than little Nudge. Really the only one with something of a normal name was my neighbor and closest friend, Max. _

"_Yeah…" came my mumbled reply. I was surprised at just how rough my voice was as I forced it past my chapped and swollen lips. My throat was on fire and it burned harsher when I tried to speak. An unfortunate side effect to being fried alive. _

"_You look like shit." Iggy rebuked clearly not buying my pathetic attempt at a positive reply._

"_Iggy!" Max snapped. For a mutant freak lab toy Max was inconsequently the strongest of the group. I couldn't understand where she got the energy to survive every day _and _drill morals and good sense into us hopeless creatures while looking after the rest of us like a mother hen. She beat the odds and was stubbornly determined to make sure we beat them with her. Not always my favorite quality about her when I was ready to resign myself to death but I was more than positive she was the reason I was still alive today. _

_Iggy knew right away what he had done wrong and he apologized with an unconvincing grunt and a roll of his eyes. According to Max nine year olds shouldn't be using the colorful language that the adults in the white coats used with us. I sometimes wondered if Igs and I would ever be old enough to curse under our breaths and not receive a sharp lashing from Max's tongue. Unlikely. After a moment Max finally seemed to register what Iggy had said._

"_Wait, you can see him?" Max asked, her voice changing from harsh and scolding to surprised and hopeful in an instant. There was a long silence that followed and I saw Max droop out of the corner of my eye._

"_No," Iggy replied at last in distain. Iggy hadn't always been blind. When we (Max, Iggy, and I) were brought to this place, the only place we'd ever known in our life, the School, Iggy could see as well perhaps even better than the rest of us. Even when Nudge first joined us he still had his sight. Then one of the Whitecoat's failed experiments had left him in a darkness that would last the rest of his life, however long that was going to be. Iggy was still pretty bitter about it but Max had remained hopeful that his sight would someday return. I wondered when she would give up her wishful thinking and just accept it like the rest of us. Every time she brought it up poor Iggy was reminded of his personal resentment for our jailors. "Nudge wouldn't shut about it… that's all." Iggy muttered turning his back to us._

"_Do I really look that bad?" I asked in my rough and craggy voice. Max cringed when she nodded and I was glad the light in the room was too dim to cast my reflection on any of the shiny metal surfaces. Then she gave me a small encouraging smile._

"_Nothing _you _can't overcome." She said._

* * *

I wanted to confront her, privately, just her and I, like always. But one thing after another rendered this impossible. Max was never alone for more than two minutes when she was awake. Or rather, she never let herself be alone. However, I didn't seem to count. I never left of course. Where else was I going to go? I was there, somewhere in the room at all times, everyday. At one point Dr. Martinez came under the impression that I was bored, or otherwise insane. She brought me my laptop and while Max and the younger kids enjoyed a nice long visit without me, I tried to focus on my much neglected blog.

I had countless (somewhere near the millions) frantic posts and messages from all of my loyal followers all wondering if we were still alive. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I all but vanished off the face of the Earth. My last update was a quick note I jotted down on my way out the door informing everyone that Max was kidnapping us and forcing us on vacation for a week and that I was forbidden from bringing my laptop. The first couple hundred thousand replies to that ranged from 'oh poor Fang' to 'good for Max.' to 'whatever are we going to do without you for a whole week!?' And so naturally after about three weeks, when I still hadn't returned, I had begun receiving panic mail. There was plenty I wanted and needed to say, I could have filled the 10,000 word limit with everything I had to tell the readers, none of which concerned Max or the incident that had left her incapacitated and in the hospital for two weeks. But I found it impossible to concentrate on any of it when all I could _think _about was Max.

The rift between Max and I had not gone unnoticed. It's fair to say Iggy had always sensed something was wrong, from the day that Max woke. Angel noticed it not ten minutes after him, her mind reading powers giving her an _unfair _insight. And the others weren't stupid. It wasn't natural, the distance that had emerged between us so suddenly. No one said anything about it but everyone knew from the way her gaze avoided mine, the way I watched her from across the room, never going to her side, the way I jumped every time she coughed or sputtered, and the way she didn't even acknowledge my existence, it was a pretty dead giveaway. And they were never there to hear her whimpering in her sleep like I was. They never had to listen to her crying out in agony as she woke in the middle of the night from the only dreams she had, her nightmares.

She'd sit up, screaming, soaked in a cold sweat, her face terrorized with the fear and pain of the memories that chased her in her sleep. The first couple times I went to her and, panicked, I tried to see what was wrong, tried to comfort her. But when she opened her eyes and I was the first thing she saw, standing over her in a dark and unfamiliar room, the fear would turn to unbelievable horror. Even after she calmed down enough to remember where she was, she still couldn't go back to sleep, not if I was still in the room alone with her. It got easier when I stopped rushing to her side whenever I was awakened by her terrible screams. Instead I cringed and I rolled over in the bed or on the couch, trying to block it out. Then when she saw me, still curled up in her room but at a safe distance, she would settle back into a restless slumber. And in the morning when the Flock made their daily rounds, first visiting Max, and then Esperanza while Max's doctors where in the room, and then making a return visit to Max after lunch to finish the day, any trace of the previous night's episode have been cleverly hidden, waiting to resurface when the lights went out again.

How could I face her with that? Every time there was an opportunity to speak with her alone, she spotted it first and found a way to get someone, anyone, in the room and between us. When I tried to approach her, the words I had wanted to speak were lost on my tongue and I no longer remembered what it was I needed to say, to ask. All I had was the flash of fear I got on the rare occasions our eyes met. It was enough to make me stop in my tracks every time and turn around, leaving her, and leaving everything unsaid.

"Fang…" It had been yet another late night. Max's nightmares were becoming more frequent and more terrifying. Even the nurses had stopped coming to see what was wrong when she woke up screaming almost every night now. It only took a couple of moments. It felt like I had only just fallen asleep, as it always did, when her cries ripped through my subconscious and woke me completely. I opened my eyes to stare, exhaustion weighing me down, at the back of the couch I was sleeping on. My back was already to her and I was too numb to cringe. So I just laid there and stared at the red and tan diamond patterns of the worn and extremely uncomfortable couch until I was confident Max had settled down and fallen asleep again. It took me several extra seconds to realize that I had been wrong, she wasn't asleep, and she had called my name. In the several more seconds it took for me to open my eyes again and consider the possibility that it had been a dream Max had apparently thought me to be asleep.

"Fang… are you… are you awake?" she asked hesitantly and now that I truly was awake, I knew this wasn't a dream. I sat up stiffly a stifled a groan as I slowly turned in her direction but kept my eyes down.

"Yeah," was my tired reply. I felt her eyes on me, staring at me now with what, curiosity? Fascination? Disbelief? Fear was more likely these days. Which was why I couldn't meet her eyes to find out. Every time she looked at me that way it was like a good firm kick to my gut. It hurt, hurt to see I caused her so much pain, and I didn't even know why _I _was the cause.

"Why are you still here?" She mumbled quietly. I couldn't understand the emotion behind her words and I was confused further as to why she was talking to me now. I leaned back against the couch and crossed my arms giving in to my familiar unemotional and steely aura. I finally looked up at her with a blank stare, but she wasn't looking at me anymore. She had turned her face away for my answer.

"Where else am I supposed to go?" I asked back.

"Haven't I made it clear I don't want you here?" she spat shaking her head. I hope she wasn't expecting that to faze me. It might have, two weeks ago, but not now. I knew she didn't want me here, it couldn't be more obvious. But I also knew she needed me here, and _I_ needed me here too.

"Is that really what you want?" I asked. Her eyes swept quickly back to me and I saw they were wide with fear, but not fear of me this time. Of something else, something she was hiding. My expression hadn't changed and that brought her some kind of bizarre comfort that I knew it would. Maybe it was the familiarity, or the distance, maybe she didn't even believe this was real. But all the same she relaxed when she saw me and for the first time she didn't look at me as if I were about to turn into some kind of demon that would devour her whole on the spot. She stared down at her hands silently for several minutes then and when she looked up at me again she jumped, startled by something I couldn't see. Or rather something _she _couldn't see. She relaxed again and gave a tired grin that didn't reach her eyes.

"Hey, chameleon boy… You've gone invisible again." She muttered. I shrugged, startling her again as I suddenly became visible once more.

"It happens." I replied coolly.

"That must be nice…" she whispered staring off into space. My eyes never left her, I watched her calmly, wishing I had Angel's gift, wishing I knew what she was thinking. She spoke again when the silence dragged on longer than she was comfortable with. "I hope you'll forgive me someday…" she muttered. "Whatever you must be thinking right now, no matter how I make it seem, this isn't your fault." I said nothing in return. There was nothing to forgive as far as I was concerned. I realized this was my moment, my chance to say everything I'd wanted to say to her the past two weeks. We were alone and she was talking, talking to me. But instead I kept my jaw locked as an even bigger realization hit me then.

She had already answered all the questions I wanted to ask. She'd answered them when we found her in the middle of the Mexican desert, when she pointed that gun at me with the full intention of blowing my brains out. She'd answered them when she woke up and searched me out only to turn around and pull away from me like I'd smacked her in the face. She answered them every time she looked at me and was gripped with fear. She was answering them now, and she couldn't even bring her eyes to meet mine. There was a reason she was pushing me away… and it wasn't my fault. Of course it wasn't, this wasn't _about _me, this was about what _he _had done to her. And she was ashamed of it.

"Nothing _you _can't overcome." I told her quietly. She raised her hopeless empty gaze to meet mine for a moment and a shiver raced down my spine as ice cold tendrils crept through my veins.

"Perhaps my biggest lie yet…" She mumbled. As I stared at her dumbfounded and shocked she brushed it off and rolled over, laying with her back to me. "Good night Fang." She whispered. Yeah, because I was going to sleep well after _that._


	13. Boycott Notice

Sorry everyone, this is not a new chapter. I'm just letting you know that there will be no more chapters to Burning Bridges in Hell. I have set a personal Boycott of anything and all Maximum Ride. I will not read it or write it anymore. Not until Fang is ressurected. Period. My apologies, I know this is unfair, but was it fair to kill Fang for god sakes!?


	14. I'm an idiot

Revoking boycott. -_-'


	15. Great, now I'm screwed

Yikes! I had no idea so many people still read this. To tell the truth I hadn't even started _thinking _about what to put in the next chapter. I was actually relieved to be boycotting it because I didn't want to write. Now reading all of these reviews... I guess it's not really fair of me to just stop writing. *sighs* Alright alright I'll try and write some more. But it'll probably be a while. I don't know if any of you have ever tried surviving senior year of high school in college classes. But I have a whole shit load of stuff to do and I keep procrastinating. But I promise, come summer, I'll go back to writing regularily again. Think you can all hold out till then?


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